
ClassJES^S.!. 

Book V Lj y _ 

Copyright N^ . 



COPYRIGHT DEPOSHV 



> V'. 



BIBLE STORIES FROM 
THE OLD TESTAMENT 




WILDE'S BIBLK PICTUl.ES 



Vienna 
JOSEPH SKLLING CORN 
Page 88 



BAKTH, BREENBUBG 



BIBLE STORIES FROM 
THE OLD TESTAMENT 



RETOLD FOR CHILDREN 

By 
Delia Thompson Lute* 



ILLUSTRATED 




THE ARTHUR H. CRIST OO. 
Cooperstown, N. Y. 






Copyright by 

THE ARTHUR H. CRIST CO., 

1011 



A^ O 



eCU314063 



To my dear sons, Robert, yet, thank God, of earth; 
and Ralph, gone on; to Victoria, friend of both; and to all 
their friends, which, I hope, means a very great number of 
hoys and girls in many lands, this hook is most lovingly 
inscribed. 



TO THE MOTHER 

IN preparing this book of Bible stories the 
writer has had but one purpose above all 
others, to present to the childish mind the old 
Biblical tales without the sense of injustice and 
cruelty which were unfortunately impressed upon 
her own mind in the days when she pored over 
the family Bible, studying the pictures of Adam 
and Eve being driven out of Eden, of Cain being 
chastised by God, of the flood, of Abraham ready 
to plunge the knife into Isaac's innocent body, 
and spelling out a sentence here and there which, 
to her untaught, unguided mind, seemed to speak 
only of God's anger, God's vengeance, God's 
wrath, God's jealousy. 

It took years of suffering, years of bitter expe- 
rience to teach that unguided mind to understand 
what Jesus Christ came into the world to teach, 
the love of God, the unfailing justice of His com- 
mands. 

ix 



Bible Stories from the Old Testament 

People often misguidedly think that if a child 
is amusing himself in looking at the Bible and 
Bible pictures he is well employed and is invol- 
untarily sucking in wisdom and religion from its 
uninterpreted pages. No greater mistake can be 
made. Until the child has been first taught the 
love of Grod as revealed through the life and teach- 
ings of Jesus, and until the Old Bible stories 
are flooded with this light by the interpretation 
of either mother or teacher, he can not help but 
get a warped impression of the God of the Old 
Testament. 

I have talked with many others who, through 
lack of teaching or through false teaching, have 
suffered the same calamity. God was an unjust 
God to drown all the animals and little children 
and everybody just because the people were 
wicked I God was a cruel God to demand that 
Abraham offer up his little son, even if He did 
put a ram there at the last minute ! It was cruel 
to make Abraham and Isaac suffer so when Abra- 
ham was such a good man and Isaac was only 



To the Mother 

an innocent little boy! Why should God accept 
AbePs gift and refuse Cain's without giving any 
reason and so on and so on. We were not taught 
the lesson behind the story. 

In this book of stories we have tried to show that 
God is always loving, never unjust, and that the 
people of the olden time tried dutifully to follow 
Him, even though they often thought of Him as 
a jealous God, exacting, cruel, whimsical. We 
have tried to bring the little child near to God, 
to awaken in him a sense of closeness and kinship 
with God as a loving Father. 

We have attempted no theological interpreta- 
tion of the stories and we leave it to the reader 
to decide according to his will whether they be 
mythical, legendary or inspired. We have sim- 
ply retold them in as nearly as possible the Bible 
words, following the text wherever possible in 
order to familiarize the child with passages that, 
when later he comes to read them from the Bible 
itself, he will meet as familiar friends of his 
childhood. 



XI 



TABLE OF CONTENTS 

Page. 

How Bible Stobies Came 1 

Wheke the Stokies Happened 3 

How THE WOKLD WaS MaDE . 5 

The Fikst People 8 

The Gkeat Disobedience 10 

Cain and Abel 16 

The Man Who Walked With God 20 

The Stoky of Noah's Akk 21 

The Story of Abraham and Lot 27 

When Kjngs Go Forth to Battle 32 

Abraham and the Angels 34 

Abraham and Isaac 36 

Hagar and Ishmael 41 

Eebekah 42 

Esau and Jacob 52 

Isaac's Blessing 54 

Jacob's Ladder 59 

Jacob and Rachel 64 

Esau's Forgiveness 66 

Joseph's Dream 69 



xui 



Table of Contents 

Page 

Joseph Sold by His Bkothees 72 

Joseph in Peison 77 

The Dreams of the Butleb and Bakeb 79 

Phaeaoh's Dbeams 83 

Joseph, the Eulee 87 

Joseph and Benjamin 93 

Joseph and His Fatheb 100 

The Stoby of Moses and the Bulbushes 104 

Moses and the Shephebd Gibls 109 

Moses and the Bubning Bush 112 

Moses, the Delivebeb 115 

How God Fed the Isbaelites in the Wildee- 

NESS 121 

The Tablets of Stone and the Golden Calf 125 

The Peomised Land 129 

Joshua, the Wabeioe 133 

The Mothee Who Talked With Angels 138 

Samson, the Mighty 140 

EuTH 143 

Samuel, the Little Peophet 149 

Ejng Saul 156 

The Shephebd Boy 159 

David, the Harpist 162 

David and Goliath 165 



XIV 



Table of Contents 

Page 

The Stoby of a Beautiful Fkiendship 178 

David and Abigail — 186 

David, the Shephebd King 194 

David and His Son Absalom 200 

King Solomon, the Wise 205 

The Queen of Sheba 210 

The Stoey of Elijah 213 

The Angel That Fought an Army 218 

The Burning Firey Furnace 223 

The Feast of Belshazzar 229 

Daniel in the Lions' Den 234 

The Story of King A-has-u-e-rus and Vashti 239 

The Story of Queen Esther 243 

The Man Whom the King Honored 252 

Queen Esther's Banquet 255 

The Israelites Eeturn to Palestine 258 



XV 



ILLUSTRATIONS 



Opposite 
Page 



Joseph Selling Coen Frontispiece ^ 

Eeturn of the Dove to the Ajrk 22 / 

Noah after the Deluge 26 '^ 

Abraham's Journeying into the Land of 

Canaan 30 ^ 

The Trial of Abraham's Faith 40^?"^ 

Hagar and Ishmael in the Desert 42 t^' 

Eliezer at the House of Bethuel 48 

TsAAC AND Eebecca Before Abraham 50 ' 

The Blessing of Jacob 58 

Joseph Sold into Egypt 74 

Joseph's Coat Brought to Jacob 76 

Joseph Making Himself Known to His 

Brethren 98 

Moses and the Daughter of Pharaoh 106 \ 

The Golden Calf 128 *^ 

Moses Viewing the Promised Land 132 '^^ 

The Angel Appearing to Joshua 136 ■' 

EuTH AND Naomi 146 

David's Escape From Saul 182 ^ . 

David Mourning for Absalom 204^ 

Queen of Sheba at the Court of Solomon. . 212 ^^ 

Daniel's Answer to the Kjng 238 

xvii 



Bible Stories From the Old 
Testament 

HOW BIBLE STORIES CAME 

T ONG, many years ago, even before *^Once 
^^-^ Upon a Time/' there were little children on 
earth just as there are now and they used to ask 
their fathers and mothers to tell them stories just 
as you do. There were no books or magazines 
or newspapers in those days and no way of keep- 
ing a record of what stories these people told 
their children except as they were told from one 
generation to another and sometimes written 
down on parchment which was made from the 
skins of beasts. Then these parchment stories 
were rolled and carefully preserved and given 
to their children and their children's children, 
and read and re-read, told and re-told, written 

1 



Bible Stories From the Old Testament 

and re-written, and finally printed. That is how 
we come to know them. These stories were so 
beautiful and told so many wonderful and beau- 
tiful things about God, that we have preserved 
them in a book called the Bible. 



WHERE THE STORIES HAPPENED 

IF yon will open the big atlas and look at the 
map of Asia yon will find a large sea called 
the Mediterranean sea, and lying along its shores 
a little country called Palestine. This country 
was once occupied by a people called the Hebrews 
who believed that God loved them better than He 
did any other people, and so they called them- 
selves the * * Chosen of God. ' ' 

You know all this happened many, many years 
before Jesus came upon earth to teach people that 
God is a loving Father who cares for all His peo- 
ple alike; these people, therefore, feared God al- 
most as much as they loved Him and obeyed Him 
sometimes because they were afraid He would 
punish them rather than because they knew that 
what He wanted them to do was for their own 
good and because He loved them. 

They always listened for the voice of God, how- 
ever, and there were men amongst them who were 

3 



Bible Stories From the Old Testament 

called prophets, to whom the people believed that 
God spoke directly. 

These prophets lived much alone by themselves 
amongst the mountains and fields and stars so 
that they could be silent and hear the voice of 
God in their hearts. And what they heard they 
repeated to the people who accepted it as God's 
law, and wrote it on parchment. 



HOW THE WOELD WAS MADE 

Genesis II 

npHERE were a great many stories told by the 

^ first peoples of how the earth was made, and 

many of them you will read when you are older 

and study about the different nations of the earth. 

This is the story the Hebrew people told each 
other and their children of how the earth was 
made. 

''In the beginning/^ they said, ''God made the 
heavens and the earth and at first it was all dark. 
There was no morning and no evening, no sun- 
light and no starlight, just dark — all dark. Then 
God said 'Let there be Light,' and there was light. 
And God called the Light Day, and the darkness 
He called Night.'' And on another beautiful day 
God made two great lights in the sky, the sun to 
shed its warmth and light by day and the moon to 
give a white soft light by night. And he made 

5 



Bible Stories From the Old Testament 

all the stars that are in the sky, and God set them 
in the heavens to give light upon earth. 

Then He drew the waters all together in one 
place and called them seas and the dry land He 
called earth. 

When all the earth was finished God rested on 
one day and this day we call the Seventh day, or 
day of rest, and that is why all the shops and 
stores are closed on this day. On this day man 
can rest from his labors as God did and look about 
over the beautiful earth and go to church to hear 
about God and worship Him. 

During all this time when God was making the 
earth He had not yet made it rain. There were 
also no men or women or little children to till 
the ground and make the trees and grass and all 
the things that come from seeds to grow. 

But finally God made a mist — ^you know what a 
mist is, almost a fine, soft rain, such as you feel 
in your face sometimes in the early morning — to 
rise up from the earth and water the whole face 
of the ground; then the seeds that were in the 
earth sprouted and grew, and there were plants 

6 



How the World Was Made 

and flowers and trees upon the earth and there 
was green grass also. For God loved the world 
that He was making and wanted it to be beau- 
tiful. 

Then, say the old Hebrew stories, God took 
some of the dust of the ground and formed a man 
and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; 
and the man become a living soul. 



THE FIEST PEOPLE 

Genesis II 

'in HIS first man of whom the Hebrew stories 
■*• tell was called Adam. When God had made 
Adam He put him to live in a beautiful garden 
called the Garden of Eden, where God, Himself, 
came to walk in the cool of the day. This was a 
most wonderful place, this Garden of Eden, for 
there were blue, running rivers to water it. Beau- 
tiful trees and fruits grew there. Every tree that 
is pleasant to the sight and good for food was 
in the Garden. 

God told Adam that he might eat of every tree 
in the garden except one. Of that one, the Tree 
of Knowledge of Good and Evil, God told Adam 
he must not eat, for if he did he would surely 
be punished. 

Then God made all the beasts of the field and 
fowls of the air and brought them to Adam and 

8 



The First People 

let him name them whatever he liked. When He 
had done all these things for Adam, still God was 
not satisfied and He said: ^^It is not good that 
man shonld be alone. I will make an helpmeet 
for him. ' ' Which means that although Adam had 
a most beautiful garden in which to live and all 
kinds of birds and beasts and fowls about him he 
had no one to be a real companion to him, no one 
with whom to talk about all these wonderful 
things which God had done. So, the stories say, 
God made Adam to fall into a deep sleep and from 
one of his ribs he made a woman to be Adam's 
companion ; and Adam called this woman Eve and 
he loved her more than words can tell. He said : 
^^She is bone of my bone and flesh of my flesh,'' 
which means that because they loved each other 
and were to live together they belonged to one 
another and were the same as one. And they were 
happy in this Garden of Eden which was the very 
first home and where God came to walk in the cool 
of the evenings. 



THE GREAT DISOBEDIENCE 

Genesis III 

'X/'OJJ all know what it is to be disobe- 
-*- dient and how especially dreadful it is 
to be disobedient to those who have been 
good to you and who have done ever so 
many kind things for you; and so you will 
understand how very, very sad a thing this first 
Great Disobedience was, of which the Hebrew 
stories tell. 

You remember there were many beautiful trees 
of fruit growing in the Garden of Eden and only 
one of them God had forbidden Adam and Eve 
to touch, the Tree of the Ejiowledge of Good and 
Evil. 

You would think after all God had done for 
these two children of His in giving them this beau- 
tiful Garden to live in, that they might have' 
obeyed Him in this one thing, but they were 
like a great many other children. They disobeyed 

10 



The Great Disobedience 

their Father, God. And this was the way it hap- 
pened as the Bible tells. 

One day Eve was walking in the Garden en- 
joying the flowers and the frnit. In the middle 
of the Garden she came to the Tree of Knowl- 
edge of Good and Evil. Perhaps she had many 
times wondered why God had forbidden them to 
taste of the fruit of this tree, and perhaps, as 
other children look at and wonder about the things 
they are forbidden to touch, she had looked at it 
and wondered what it tasted like because it looked 
good. On this particular day while she stood 
there looking at the tree a serpent came to her 
and asked her if it was true that God had told 
her they might not eat of every tree in the 
Garden. 

Eve answered him, '*We may eat of the fruit 
of the trees of the Garden, but of this tree which 
is in the middle of the Garden God hath told us 
we shall not eat, neither shall we touch it, lest 
we die.'' 

Then the serpent told her that this was not true, 
and that they would not die if they ate of the 

11 



Bible Stories From the Old Testament 

fruit, but tbat tbey would know more than they 
ever had known before. Eve listened to the ser- 
pent instead of to the voice of God and she tasted 
of the fruit and gave some to Adam and he ate 
it too. 

Do you remember that I told you that God came 
to walk in this Garden of Eden in the cool of 
the day, perhaps to talk with Adam and Eve and 
spend the sunset and evening hour with them as 
we like to do with those we love! 

Well, in a short time after Adam and Eve had 
tasted of the forbidden fruit, the day began to 
grow cool and sweet and evening came and they 
heard God coming to walk in the Garden. 

Before this they must have been very happy 
when they heard God coming and would run for- 
ward to meet him as you do your father when 
he comes home ^^in the cool of the evening." But 
this day, because they had eaten of the fruit 
which God had forbidden them they were afraid 
and ran and hid themselves amongst the trees 
of the Garden. Perhaps they thought they could 
hide from God, or that He would not know what 

12 



The Great Disobedience 

they did, but no one can ever hide from God, 
for God always knows what His children are do- 
ing and He knew that Adam and Eve had diso- 
beyed Him. 

So God called to Adam, and said, **Adam, 
where art thou?" Then Adam and Eve came 
trembling before Him and Adam said, **I heard 
thy voice in the Garden and I was afraid and I 
hid myself." 

I used to wonder when I was a little girl if 
God felt very sad and sorry in His heart because 
Adam and Eve had disobeyed Him, as my father 
did when I disobeyed. Of course there was no 
reason why Adam and Eve should be afraid of 
their Father who had done so much for them ex- 
cept that they had done wrong, and we can im- 
agine how very miserable and sorry they must 
have felt as they stood there before God trem- 
bling and afraid. It is a dreadful thing to be 
afraid because one has done wrong. 

God asked them if they had eaten the fruit of 
the forbidden tree and Adam said, **Eve gave 
me of the fruit of the tree and I did eat." 

13 



Bible Stories From the Old Testament 

Then God said to Eve, '*What is it that thou 
hast done?'' 

And Eve said, *^The serpent tempted me and 
I did eat.'' 

Then first of all, God put a curse upon the 
serpent. He told him that he should always crawl 
flat upon the ground because he had told Eve that 
God's word was not true. And then He talked 
to Adam and Eve and said to them that He 
should punish them just as He had told them 
He should do, and that they could no longer live 
in the beautiful Garden of Eden because they had 
disobeyed. God wanted them to learn by grief 
and trouble to be good. So they went sorrow- 
fully out of the beautiful place where they had 
been so happy, and God set an angel with a flam- 
ing sword to watch over the Garden. The story 
of this angel is to show us that we can never 
go back and undo the things we have done. 

But God was sorry for poor, disobedient Adam 
and Eve, just as He is always sorry for His chil- 
dren when they do wrong, and He showed them 
how to make clothes of the skins of beasts to 

14 



The Great Disobedience 

keep them warm and how to till the ground so 
that the seeds that were in it would grow, because 
you see God wanted to give them another chance 
to be good and useful people and to help Him in 
His work for the world. But because Adam and 
Eve had disobeyed God they had separated them- 
selves from Him and could no longer be His com- 
panions in His Garden. 



15 



CAIN AND ABEL 

Genesis IV: 1-16 

A DAM and Eve had two sons whose names 
-^"^ were Cain and Abel. Cain was a farmer, or 
as the Bible says, **A tiller of the soil,'' and 
Abel was a shepherd and tended flocks of sheep 
where they fed upon the hillside. Cain was the 
older of the two brothers and I suppose had 
helped take care of his younger brother. 

Cain and Abel wanted to make gifts to God 
because people always want to make gifts to those 
they love and to those who have been good to 
them. Most of all do we like to make gifts to 
God who has done so much for us. The best 
kind of gift for any one to make is something 
that is very dear to the giver or something he 
has done himself, so Abel gave one of his little 
lambs and Cain gave of the fruit of the ground 
to be an offering to God. 

16 



Cain and Abel 

Now when the two brothers came with their 
gifts God was much pleased with Abel because 
Abel had been good and had done things to please 
God, and brought his gift gladly. But Cain had 
been disobedient and he brought his gift more 
because he was afraid of God than because he 
loved Him. God was not pleased with Cain 
and told him so, and Cain was angry and his 
face grew dark and sullen. Then God said, ^*Why 
art thou angry? And why is thy countenance 
fallen?'' And He spoke tenderly and sorrowfully 
and told Cain that if he did right that He, God, 
would love him and accept his gifts. God said, 
**If thou doest not well, sin lieth at thy door;" 
meaning that if Cain was not sorry for all the 
wicked and bad things he had done, and if he 
would not say that he would do better, that sin, 
*4ike a baby lion,'' would lie outside the door of 
his heart ready to spring up at any time and 
make him do wicked things, and that *4f Cain 
chose he could tame the young lion before it grew 
big and strong, and teach it to obey him, but if 
he did not do so at once, the lion would soon grow 

17 



Bible Stories From the Old Testament 

strong enough to spring npon him and destroy 
him."* 

But Cain did not pay very much attention to 
what God said to him. He was still angry and 
sullen and jealous because Abel was better than 
he was, and a little later when he and Abel went 
to the fields together, they talked — quarrelled 
perhaps, and Cain killed Abel, his brother. 

Then God spoke to Cain and said (and now His 
voice was very stern), ^^ Where is thy brother 
Abeir' And Cain, still sullen and angry, said, 
^^I know not. Am I my brother's keeper!" 

He could not deceive God, however, who sees 
all things, and God was bitterly sorry. He told 
Cain that because he had done this dreadful thing 
he must go away into a distant land, away from 
his home and his people and never return. ' ^ The 
voice of thy brother's blood crieth unto me from 
the ground," said God. ''And now thou must 
leave thy home, and thy mother and father, and 
go into strange lands. All thy life thou shalt be 



*From "Telling Bible S-ories,'"' by Louise Seymour Houghton. 

18 



Cain and Abel 

a wanderer, hiding and fleeing over the face of 
the earth." 

Cain, like most disobedient and bad people, was 
terribly frightened. ^^My punishment is greater 
than I can bear,'' he said, and he told God that 
he was afraid some one wonld kill him as he had 
killed his brother Abel. 

But God, whose heart is always loving and for- 
giving toward all His children, no matter how 
bad and wicked they have been, and who is always 
trying to bring His children to Him and to believe 
in Him, told Cain that He would watch over and 
not let any one slay him. And he gave Cain a 
sign by which he would remember that God had 
not forgotten him, for He hoped that in another 
land Cain would repent of his sins and try to be 
a good and useful man. So Cain went away into 
a distant land and lived there all his life. 



19 



THE MAN WHO WALKED WITH GOD 

A DAM and Eve had another son after AbePs 
'^~^ death and they called him Seth. After a 
great many years there was a man named Enoch 
who was one of Seth's children's children. Enoch 
was a good man, so good that the Bible beauti- 
fnlly says, ^*he walked with God." That is a 
most lovely way of saying that Enoch followed 
God's teachings and walked so closely to the way 
God pointed ont that he ^'walked with God."i 
And the story says that when Enoch was through 
with life on earth ^'God took him," and the les- 
son in the story is that if people walk closely in 
the way of God's teaching they do not have to 
think of anything that might frighten or worry 
them for God will take care of them always. 

'^And Enoch walked with God; and he was not; 
for God took him. ' ' 



20 



THE STORY OF NOAH'S ARK 

Genesis VI: VII: VIII 

T AM sure you will like this story very much for 
you all know what a Noah's ark is. It is one 
of the toys that all children love best. 

In these long ago, far off days after there came 
to be a great many people on the earth, the Bible 
tells us that the people became so wicked that 
they did not obey God at all nor listen for His 
voice. 

The whole earth became so wicked, the stories 
say, that God thought best to send a great flood 
and wash it clean of its wickedness, because if 
something didn't happen to prevent it the people 
would keep on growing more and more wicked 
until not one would be left who would know God's 
voice or remember His love. All this, the Bible 
says, made God very sorrowful. It ^^ grieved Him 
to the heart," just as it always must make a 

21 



Bible Stories From the Old Testament 

father sorrowful when his children disobey him. 

There was one man who still tried to hear the 
voice of God and to do as God told him and to 
obey Him in all things. His name was Noah and 
he was six hundred years old when the flood came. 

Noah had been telling the people for more than 
a hundred years how wicked they were and try- 
ing to make them give up their wickedness and 
be good. God knew that Noah was trying to 
help Him in this way and that the people would 
not heed him, so He chose Noah to help Him in 
another way. 

He told Noah to build an ark or great boat 
that was half house, large enough for him and his 
family and a great many animals to live in for 
a long time. 

Of course it would take a long, long while to 
build such an ark, for it must be very large. God 
told Noah to build it three stories high with many 
different rooms in it. There should be a door at 
the side and a window high at the top. And God 
told Noah to cover it outside and in with pitcL 
so the water could not get in. 




o 



5 a I 



The Story of Noah's Ark 

You can see how thoroughly Noah trusted God 
and obeyed Him, for he must have been many 
days building this ark, days when the sun shone 
brightly and there was no thought of rain. But 
God had told him what to do and he obeyed with- 
out question. 

When the ark was all finished and ready, God 
told Noah to take his wife and his three sons, 
Shem, Ham and Japheth with their wives, and two 
of every kind of animal, bird and fish and fowl, 
even the creeping things, and put them into the 
ark with food enough to last them for many days. 

You can imagine what a wonderful procession 
that would be like, can you not 1 We do not know 
what kind of animals there were in those days, but 
there were two elephants perhaps, marching side 
by side, two camels, two giraffes, two hippopota- 
muses and two of every kind of beast and bird, 
all marching into this wonderful ark to be 
watched over and cared for by the man whom 
God had chosen to help Him while the waters 
were washing the earth. 

When all the animals were safely in and Noah's 

23 



Bible Stories From the Old Testament 

family with them they closed the door and waited 
for the rain. It must have been a very, very 
great rain indeed, for the Bible says, *Hhe foun- 
tains of the great deep were broken up, and the 
windows of heaven were opened. ' ^ 

This great rain lasted for forty days and forty 
nights. The rivers grew wider and deeper until 
they overflowed all the land and mingled with the 
lakes and seas and the whole earth was covered 
with water. You can imagine the people looking 
out of the windows and seeing the waters creep 
up over the grass, then over the bushes and 
and finally up and up until the tree tops were 
covered, and finally even the mountains. Then 
Noah and his family were glad that he had obeyed 
and trusted God, for the ark floated safely upon 
the waters. But everything that was not in the 
ark was drowned and the earth was washed quite 
clean. 

When finally the rain ceased God sent a wind 
to dry up the waters so that Noah and his family 
and the animals he had saved might go out upon 
the earth again. The waters began to grow less 

24 



The Story of Noah's Ark 

and less and finally one day the ark did not float, 
but rested on a mountain called Mt. Ararat. 
When the ark had staid firmly upon this moun- 
tain for a number of days and Noah saw that the 
waters were really going down and the flood was 
over, he one day opened the window of the ark 
and sent a raven out to see if it would find any 
level land to alight upon. But the raven's wings 
were very strong and it flew and flew over the 
waters without returning. Then Noah sent out 
a dove, for a dove could not fly so far as the 
raven and would return if it could find no ground 
on which to alight. The Bible says, **The dove 
could find no place for the sole of her foot," and 
she returned to the ark, so Noah knew that the 
waters were still on the earth. 

After seven days more Noah again sent forth 
the dove and after a while she came back with an 
olive leaf in her mouth and then Noah knew that 
the waters were going down. 

Then Noah waited seven days more and sent 
the dove again and this time she never came back, 
so Noah knew that she had found land and trees. 

25 



Bible Stories From the Old Testament 

Then ISToali took the covering off the ark and 
opened the doors and you can imagine how glad 
both the people and the animals would be to see 
the sun shine in upon them and to go out again 
upon the earth. Then God spoke to Noah 
and told him to go forth from the ark and to take 
his wife and his sons and his sons' wives and all 
the animals with him. And when they were all 
on land again Noah built an altar and thanked 
God for having taken care of them all through 
the flood. And God blessed Noah and made him 
a promise that there should never be another 
flood, and the seal of that promise was a rainbow 
in the sky. 



THE STOEY OF ABEAHAM AND LOT 
Genesis XII:1-12; XIII 

IN a country that was a long way from Canaan 
or Palestine where the flood had been, there 
lived a man named Abram. Abram did not be- 
lieve in the worship of idols such as the other 
people worshipped and wanted to go to a land 
where he could worship the true Grod. 

One day he thought he heard the voice of God 
saying, ^^Get thee out of the land of thy country 
and from thy kindred and from thy father's house 
unto a land that I will show thee. ' ' 

So Abram took his wife Sara and his nephew, 
Lot, and all his servants and flocks of sheep and 
cattle and camels, and they traveled many, many 
miles across a rocky and desert land where noth- 
ing grew that was green and there was almost no 
water for themselves or their cattle. You can 
hardly imagine what such a journey would be like, 

27 



Bible Stories From the Old Testament 

for in those days people had no carriages or cars 
in which to travel. They rode and carried all tbelr 
possessions on the backs of camels or in rude 
wagons, and they had often to travel by night 
under the starry skies and rest by day because 
the days were so hot. 

Abram's family, like all the people of that 
country, lived in tents even though they were a 
very rich family and might have been princes had 
they been willing to stay and worship idols with 
the others. So they carried their tents upon the 
backs of the camels and pitched them wherever 
they halted to rest. 

Abram was one of the good men who loved 
God and listened for His voice, and wherever he 
halted for a rest he built an altar of stones. Here 
he knelt and prayed to God to guide and care for 
them and to lead them to the promised land. 

When they had traveled for many days through 
the hot and sandy desert they finally came upon 
a land, called the land of Canaan, where were 
green grass and trees for shade and rivers where 
their cattle and camels might drink. Here Abram 



The Story of Abraham and Lot 

built another altar and thanked God for having 
brought them safely, but this was not the end 
of their journey. They traveled through this 
pleasant land for many days more, going now by 
day because the days were cooler and resting by 
night, under the stars. 

After awhile there came a famine to the land 
they were traveling through and Abram and all 
his caravan went down into Egypt where there 
was plenty to eat for both man and beast. While 
they were in Egypt, the king, who was called 
Pharaoh, gave Abram a great many oxen and 
sheep and bondservants, also gold and silver. 
When the famine was over Abram took all his 
many possessions and went back into Canaan. 

Now, Lot, Abram 's nephew, also had herds of 
sheep and oxen and camels and bondservants, 
and the land where they first halted was not able 
to bear both Abram 's and Lot's herds. There 
was much quarrelling between Abram 's herds- 
men and Lot's herdsmen, because both wanted 
the best pasturage for their cattle and the best 
waters for them to drink from. 



Bible Stories From the Old Testament 

But Abram said to Lot, **Let there be no strife, 
I pray thee, between thee and me, nor between 
thy herdsmen and my herdsmen for we are breth- 
ren. ' ' And he told Lot they had better divide the 
land between them and separate the herds and 
herdsmen. 

^'K thou wilt take the left hand,'' he said to 
Lot, ^^then I will go to the right, or if thou 
depart to the right hand then I will go to the 
left.'' For even though Abram was much older 
than Lot and should have had first choice he was 
quite willing that Lot should choose, hoping to 
satisfy and make him happy. This shows what 
a truly great man Abram was, for to be truly 
great is to be humble and unselfish and sweet. 

But Lot was not a great man. He was selfish 
and grasping and wanted the best of everything 
that was to be had. So he chose all the beautiful 
plain of Jordan that lay beyond them, with its 
fertile pasturage and running rivers and he took 
his herds of cattle and sheep and camels and 
servants and went and dwelt upon it. 

After Lot had gone away, Abram and his wife 

30 




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The Story of Abraham and Lot 

Sara, with all their servants and herds and flocks, 
traveled to the mountains of Canaan. Here God 
told him to lift up his eyes from where he stood 
on the mountain and look about him northward 
and southward and eastward and westward. And 
God told Abram that He would f^ive him all the 
land which he could see. He told Abram to rise 
and walk through it, the length and breadth of it, 
and that it was all his. For God was pleased with 
Abram. 



31 



^'WHEN KINGS GO FORTH TO BATTLE'^ 

Genesis XIV 

'T^HERE was much fighting amongst the dif- 
■*- ferent nations and tribes of people in this 
country where Abram had come to dwell, but in 
the midst of it all he lived with his family of 
servants and his herds, making war upon none 
and respected by all. 

One day a messenger came running to Abram 's 
tent in great excitement and told him there had 
been a terrible battle in the valley where Lot 
dwelt, and that four kings with their armies had 
taken Lot and a great many others captive and 
had killed many of the people who lived in the val- 
ley and taken all their goods. 

When Abram heard this he armed all his serv- 
ants with swords and bows and arrows and 
spears and led them at night against the army of 
four kings. While the kings and their army were 

32 



'^When Kings go Forth to Battle '* 

asleep Abram and Ms servants surrounded them 
and fell upon them and killed many. In the midst 
of the army they found Abram 's nephew, Lot, 
and they took him and all the goods that the kings 
had captured and the women and servants and 
brought them away from the army that had taken 
them prisoners. And this shows again how great 
a man Abram was, to go into battle for the sake 
of Lot who had been selfish and unfair with him. 
After all this had happened the Lord came to 
Abram in a dream and spoke to him and said, 
**Fear not, Abram; I am thy shield and thy ex- 
ceeding great reward.'' 



33 



ABEAHAM AND THE ANGELS 
Genesis XVIII: 1-22 

TN spite of all his riches and all the good things 
-*- God had given to them, both Abram and Sara 
were often very sad and lonely, for there were 
no little children to call them father and mother, 
or to love and help them. People who have no 
little children are always sad and lonely at times. 
So Sara prayed to God that they might have a 
little child. And God spoke to Abram when he 
was ninety and nine years old and told him that 
he should yet have children and that his name 
should be changed from Abram to Abraham which 
means ^ ^ Father of Many Nations, ' ' and his wife *s 
name should be changed to Sarah. 

One time when Abraham was sitting in the 
tent door in the heat of the day he looked up, 
and lo, three angels stood beside him; and when 
he saw them he ran to meet them and bowed his 
head upon the ground. He begged them to sit 
under a tree and rest while he had water brought 

34 



Abraham and the Angels 

to bathe their feet, which was a custom in that land. 

So the three angels sat down to rest and Abra- 
ham ran into the tent and told Sarah to hurry 
and make some cakes. Then he ran out to where 
the cattle were feeding on the long, sweet grass 
under the shade of the trees, and he took from 
among them a young calf and gave it to a serv- 
ant who killed and dressed it. And when the meat 
was cooked Abraham took butter and milk and 
the meat and cakes and set before the angels and 
they ate. 

Then one of the angels asked Abraham where 
Sarah was and Abraham said, *^In the tent.'* 
Then the angel told Abraham that Sarah should 
have a little son just as they had longed and 
prayed for. 

Now Abraham and Sarah were both very old 
people and they could hardly believe that God 
really meant they should have a son, but the 
angel assured them and promised them again, and 
they believed and were glad. Then the angels 
went away, and Abraham walked a little way with 
them on their journey. 

35 



ABEAHAM AND ISAAC 

Genesis XXII: 1-15 

T7[ THEN Abraham was a himdred years old 
^ ^ (for men lived to a great age in those 
days) there was a little son born to him and Sarah 
and they called him Isaac. 

Abraham and Sarah loved this little son for 
whom they had prayed and waited so long, very, 
very much. Sarah was so glad that she said, 
' * God hath made me to langh so that all who hear 
me shall laugh with me." She rejoiced because 
she had been able to give this wonderful gift of 
a little son to Abraham in his old age. 

Now in these olden days some of the people 
believed that the way in which to show their 
love and devotion to God was to build a great fire 
on an altar of stones and burn on it some lamb 
or dove or cattle, something that had blood. They 
believed that the smoke from this o:ffering went 

36 



Abraham and Isaac 

straight up to God and that when He saw it He 
would forgive them for their sins. They also be- 
lieved that the more precious anything was to them 
the greater gift it would be to God and the more 
He would forgive them. 

Nowadays people no longer believe in miaMng 
offerings to God in this way, but in giving of 
their work and services and their love to God in 
doing things for other people. But in the olden 
days they knew no better and did what seemed 
right to them. Not until Jesus came and taught 
people how loving a Father God is and how much 
He needs us to help Him in His work, did they 
know how much more He cares for kindness and 
helpfulness to each other than for burnt offer- 
ings. 

Abraham, fine, strong, good old man though 
he was, and loving God as he did, had not learned 
all these things. One time he thought God wanted 
him to make an offering to Him of something he 
loved very much; he even thought he heard the 
voice of God telling him to offer up his little son, 
Isaac, who was so very precious to Him. 

37 



Bible Stories From the Old Testament 

Now you know, of course, that God, who loves 
all little children even more than their own 
fathers and mothers do, and who sent His own 
beloved son, Jesus, on earth to bless little chil- 
dren, would never ask any father to burn his 
little boy as an offering to Him. The Hebrews 
didn't believe it either, except, as they said, to 
try Abraham's faith and see if he would really 
be willing to do it. But Abraham believed God 
wanted him to do it and he was willing, for he 
thought that Isaac belonged to God more than 
he did to him. 

I should not like you to imagine how very sad 
Abraham's heart was when he took little Isaac 
and two of his servants and an ass loaded with 
wood for the altar fire, and set out for the moun- 
tain where the altar was to be built. It must have 
been a very, very sad journey, but we will like 
to think that God was watching over them in love, 
just waiting to see what Abraham would be will- 
ing to do for love of Him. 

When they came to the mountain Abraham told 
the servants to wait there while he and Isaac 

38 




WILDE'S BIBLE PICTURES 



THE TRIAL OF AV.RAHAM'b FAITH 
Page 39 



DOKE 1.33-lSi3 



Abraham and Isaac 

went on alone to the place where the offering was 
to be made. Perhaps Abraham did this because 
he did not want the servants to see how bitter this 
trial was to him, and very likely he wanted to 
be alone with his little son, Isaac. 

Isaac had seen altar fires bnilt and offerings 
made, so he understood it all; but when he saw 
the altar of stones and the wood ready for the 
fire and no lamb or sheep he said, ^^My father,'' 
and Abraham answered, ^*Here am I, my son.'* 
Then little Isaac said, ^^ Behold the fire and the 
wood, but where is the lamb for the burnt offer- 
ing?'' 

Abraham replied, and oh, how his sad heart 
must have ached when he thought God was requir- 
ing this great thing of him, *^My son, God will 
provide Himself a lamb for the offering." 

We do not know what little Isaac suffered when 
he knew that he was. to be the offering, but we 
know that he must have been willing and obedient 
to his father, just as Abraham was obedient to 
God, and to what he thought was God's wish, for 
the Bible tells us that Abraham took little Isaac 

39 



Bible Stories From the Old Testament 

and laid him upon the altar. But just then there 
came a clear, quick voice out of heaven calling, 
** Abraham! Abraham!" Abraham said, *^Here 
am I!" And the angel, whose voice it was, said, 
^*Lay not thy hand upon the lad; neither do thon 
anything to him. ' ' Abraham looked up and there 
was a ram caught by the horns in the bushes. He 
went and took the ram and offered that instead of 
his little son because he believed God had put it 
there to show him that he need not offer up his 
son. 

Then Abraham and Isaac went back to their 
home, and we will like to think how very happy 
they must have been going back together, and 
how happy Isaac's mother must have been to see 
them coming and how she would run out to meet 
them and hold little Isaac close to her heart. And 
I also like to think how obedient Abraham was to 
what he believed to be God's will even though 
it was so terrible a thing ; and best of all I like to 
think how God was watching over them in love. 



40 



HAGAR AND ISHMAEL 

Genesis XXI .1-21 

\ BRAHAM had another son whose name was 
^ Ishmael and whose mother was called Hagar. 
Ishmael was older than Isaac and one day when 
there was a great feast being held, Isaac's 
mother, Sarah, thought she heard Ishmael mock- 
ing at Isaac. Sarah went to Abraham and asked 
him to send Hagar and her boy, Ishmael, away 
for she did not want Isaac to play with Ishmael. 

Abraham loved Ishmael very much and he was 
troubled and grieved because Sarah wanted him 
to do this, so he went and prayed to God about it 
just as he always did about anything that trou- 
bled him. God told Abraham that it would be 
best for him to do as Sarah wanted him to and 
not to worry about Hagar and Ishmael, for he 
would take care of them and make Ishmael a 
great man when he grew up. So Abraham was 

41 



Bible Stories From the Old Testament 

happier in his mind about them for he knew God 
would always do just as He promised. He rose 
up early in the morning and took bread and a 
bottle made of goat skin and filled with water 
and gave them to Hagar. Then he told her to 
take her little boy and go away. So Hagar and 
Ishmael went away and wandered in the wilder- 
ness which was a very wild and lonely place with 
no gardens or houses or people. 

By and by both Hagar and little Ishmael grew 
very tired. There was no more water in the bot- 
tle and Ishmael cried and cried for a drink until 
Hagar could not bear the sound of his crying. 
She laid him down in the shade of some bushes 
and then went and sat down a long way oif where 
she could not hear him cry, and she prayed to 
God. For Hagar thought her little boy was going 
to die for want of a drink and she wept. 

But God heard Ishmael crying for water and 
He sent an angel to speak to Hagar. 

'^What aileth thee, Hagar?" the angel called, 
and then said, ^ ^ Fear not, for God hath heard the 
voice of the lad where he is. Arise, lift up the 

42 




< Oi 

00 

Q 



Hagar and Ishmael 

lad and hold Mm in thine hand." And Hagar 
looked up and saw water coming ont of the rocks 
where she had not seen it before, and she ran 
and got the little boy and gave him a drink, and 
oh, how glad and thankful to God she must have 
been to think that He had heard Ishmael and that 
he need not die for want of a drink. 

Ishmael and his mother lived for many years 
in the wilderness until he was a grown man 
and had learned to be a famous archer, which 
means that he could shoot with bows and arrows. 
He lived in the wilderness always with his 
family and a great many other people, because 
they liked to live where they could move their 
tents from place to place wherever there was the 
best grass for their flocks and cattle and where 
there was water. And they were called Ishmael- 
ites or Arabs. And there are tribes of these 
same people still living in the wildernesses of the 
same country to this day. 



43 



EEBEKAH 
Genesis XXIV 

Wl HEN Abraham came to be a very old 

^ ^ man, he ^as anxious that his son Isaac 
should marry and have a family of his own. He 
did not want him to marry one of the women of 
the land where they were now living, however, 
but wanted him to take one of the women from 
Abraham's own old home for a wife. So he sent 
a man servant whose name was Eliezer to choose 
a wife for Isaac. 

The servant took ten camels and loaded them 
with beautiful presents of gold and silver and 
jewels for the bride that he would choose. He 
also took other servants with him and they trav- 
eled a long, long way over mountains and valleys 
for many days and nights. They rested often 
in the heat of the day by the side of streams of 

44 



Rebekah 

water where the thirsty camels might drink, and 
traveled by night nnder the soft, dark, starry sky 
when it was cool and still. 

When they had journeyed for many days they 
came to the country of Mes-o-po-ta-mia. This 
was Abraham ^s old home and here was the city 
where Abraham's brother, Nahor, lived. 

It was evening when Eliezer and all his camels 
and servants came to the walls of the city. 
They stopped outside the walls at a well where 
the thirsty camels might drink. 

It was the custom in that land for the girls 
and women to go down to the wells at evening 
to get water for the next day's use, and just as 
Eliezer and his great caravan came up to the 
walls the women were beginning to come down 
from the city with water jugs upon their shoul- 
ders and heads. 

Now this servant whom Abraham had sent to 
choose a wife for Isaac thought he would choose 
the one who would be kind to dumb animals as 
well as to men. So while the tired camels kneeled 
down by the side of the well to rest and wait for 

45 



Bible Stories From the Old Testament 

water, Eliezer knelt too, with his hands clasped 
and raised in prayer and asked God to help him 
to be wise in choosing a wife for Isaac, Abraham's 
beloved son. He said that he would ask some fair 
maiden who had a water jug, to give him a drink, 
and if she also offered to draw water for his 
camels he would know her to be kind hearted and 
he would ask her to go back with him and be 
Isaac's wife. 

Just then there came down from the city in the 
beautiful soft evening dusk a lovely young girl 
with a water jug resting on her shoulder and she 
came straight toward the well where the kneel- 
ing camels were and where Eliezer also knelt 
praying. When Eliezer saw her at the well he 
ran to meet her and said, ^^Let me, I pray thee, 
drink a little water from thy pitcher.'' 

The maiden said, '^ Drink, my lord," and she 
hastened and filled the pitcher and gave him a 
drink. When she had given Eliezer a drink she 
said, ^^I will draw water for thy camels, also, 
until they have done drinking." And she has- 
tened and emptied her pitcher into the drinking 

46 



Eebekah 

trougli and ran again to the well to draw water 
for all the camels. 

The servant, seeing how kind she was, said to 
her: 

''Whose daughter art thon? Tell me, I pray 
thee, is there room in thy father's honse for ns. 
to lodge?'' 

Yon can imagine how pleased Eliezer must have 
been when she said: ''I am Rebekah, daughter 
of Bethuel, the son of Nahor," for Nahor was 
Abraham's own brother. Rebekah told Eliezer 
there was plenty of room for them at her father 's 
house and that they had also both straw and pro- 
vender, meaning that there was straw for the 
camels to sleep on and food for them to eat. So 
Eliezer roused up the tired camels and servants 
and made ready to go. 

Before they started he took from out the 
camel's packs a beautiful golden earring and two 
bracelets and gave them to Rebekah because she 
had been kind to him and his camels. Then he 
went to her home, thanking God for having led 

47 



Bible Stories From the Old Testament 

him to this beautiful maiden who already be- 
longed to Abraham's own family. 

Eebekah's father and her brother welcomed 
Eliezer and the other men that were with hiTn and 
gave them water to bathe in and food for their 
camels and set meat before them. But Eliezer 
said that before he ate he would tell them his 
errand. So he told them that he was Abraham's 
servant and that Abraham was a very great and 
rich man; that the Lord had blessed him exceed- 
ingly and given him many flocks and herds and 
much silver and gold and many servants. He 
told them that all these riches Abraham had given 
to Isaac, his son, and that Abraham had now sent 
him, his servant, to choose from among his own 
people a maiden to be Isaac's wife. He told them 
how he had decided to choose the one that would 
be kind to his camels as well as to him, and how 
Bebekah had come down and offered to draw 
water not only for him but for all the camels. 
He told them that he believed God had led him 
directly to her and that they must now say 
whether Eebekah could go back with him to be 

48 










■'l^^ 





Eebekali 

Isaac's wife. Laban, Eebekah's brother, and 
Bethuel, her father, both said they believed as 
EKezer did, that God had sent him thither and 
that therefore they had nothing to say about it 
since God had directed the matter and that Re- 
bekah should go back with him to be Isaac's wife. 
The man servant was so delighted because of Re- 
bekah's beauty and her kindness that he knelt 
down and thanked God for having brought him 
here. Then he brought forth more presents, 
jewels of silver and jewels of gold and beautiful 
robes and gave them to Rebekah, and he also gave 
to her brother and her mother precious things. 

He staid all night with Rebekah's people and 
then he told them he must go. Rebekah's 
mother and brother were sad at her going and 
begged the man servant to let her stay another 
few days, but the man servant asked them not to 
hinder him for it was a long journey, and he knew 
Abraham and Isaac would be anxious to know how 
well he had done his errand. So the mother and 
brother said they would call Rebekah and let her 
say whether she would go back with Eliezer or 

49 



Bible Stories From the Old Testament 

not. She came into the room and they said unto 
her, ^'Wilt thon go with this manf And she 
said, ^^I will go.'' Then all the camels and the 
servants were brought around and made ready 
to go and Eebekah with her own maid servants 
went away to be Isaac's wife. 

While they were riding homeward, Eebekah 
and her maid servants and Abraham's man serv- 
ant and the other servants that went with them, 
all on camels, Isaac was coming to meet them. 
One evening Isaac stopped in a field to rest and to 
think about this bride who was coming to him 
and whom he had never seen, wondering probably 
how she would look, whether she would be sweet 
and fair and if she would love him and be kind 
to him. Suddenly he lifted his eyes and saw a 
long line of camels coming toward him, their odd 
shapes rising and falling against the evening sky 
almost like ships on a rough sea. He knew in- 
stantly whom it must be and rose up and went 
toward them. 

Eebekah, from her high seat on the camel, saw 
him also, and she asked of Eliezer, ^^What man is 

50 



Eebekah 

this that walketh in the fields to meet us?'* And 
the servant said, ^^It is my master. '* 

Then Eebekah got down off her camel and took 
a veil and covered her face, for this was the cus- 
tom of the day. When they met Eliezer talked 
with Isaac and told him all the things he had 
done and Isaac was pleased. 

Isaac took Eebekah to his mother's tent and 
he loved her very dearly. She was good to him, 
and generous and kind, and the Bible says th'at 
when Isaac's mother died, Eebekah comforted 
him. 



51 



ESAU AND JACOB 

Genesis XXV : 27 -34 

T SAAC and Eebekah had twin sons whose names 
'■■ were Esau and Jacob. When these boys grew 
to be men Esau was a hunter and loved to be 
all day in the fields hunting and killing beasts 
and birds to eat; and Jacob was a shepherd and 
cared only to live quietly in his tents taking care 
of his father's flocks. Isaac was fonder of Esau 
than he was of Jacob, because Esau brought him 
fine venison to eat, but Eebekah loved Jacob best. 
One time Esau had been for a long time out in 
the fields hunting, and he came in at night tired 
out and very faint and hungry. Jacob happened 
to be making pottage for the evening meal, and 
Esau said: **Feed me, I pray thee, with that 
same red pottage, for I am faint. *' Jacob told 
Esau that if he would give him his birthright he, 
Jacob, would give him the pottage. Now, a birth- 



Esau and Jacob 

right was the right of the eldest son to be the 
head of the family and to have a double share 
of all the property and riches their father pos- 
sessed ; and although these boys were twins, Esan 
was born first and was therefore entitled to the 
birthright when their father died. 

Of course Esau had no right to sell his birth- 
right for anything, but he was so hungry and 
faint that he thought he was going to die, and 
it would not matter. So he told Jacob he might 
have the birthright if only he would give him 
the pottage. Then Jacob gave Esau bread and 
pottage and Esau gave up his birthright to Jacob, 
and this meant that when Isaac should die the 
property that should have gone to Esau would 
now go to Jacob and Esau would have nothing 
but what he got by working for Jacob. 



53 



ISAAC ^S BLESSING 

Genesis XXVII 

TIT HEN Isaac came to be a very old man he 
^ ^ wanted to give his blessing to Esan, his 
eldest son. The Bible does not tell us that Isaac 
knew whether Esau had given away his birth- 
right or not. Anyway Isaac wanted to bless Esau 
and a blessing was the same thing as a will is 
now, and it would mean that when he had blessed 
Esau with all his lands and flocks and herds and 
riches he had made him heir to them. So Isaac 
called Esau to him and said : ^^My son,'' and Esau 
answered, ** Behold, here am I.'' Isaac said, ^^I 
am very old. I know not the day of my death. 
Now, therefore, take, I pray thee, thy weapons, 
thy quiver and bow and go out to the field and 
make me some savory meat such as I love and 
bring it to me that I may eat, that my soul may 
bless thee before I die.*' 

So Esau took his bow and quiver and went out 
to hunt the deer. 

54 



Isaac's Blessing 

Then Kebekah, even thougli she had been so 
lovely and kind-hearted a maiden, did a wicked 
thing, and even though she did it because she 
loved Jacob very, very much, it was wrong jnst 
the same. 

Eebekah wanted Jacob to have all his father's 
riches and flocks and herds, those that he intended 
to bless Esau with. It may be that she thought 
Jacob ought to have them because Esau had sold 
his right to them for a mess of pottage, but if 
she did she should have told Isaac so and not de- 
ceived him as she did. At any rate she told Jacob 
what Isaac was going to do and that Esau had 
gone to get venison that his father might eat and 
bless Esau before he died. And she told Jacob 
to go into the fields and get two fat kids and she 
would make savory meat of them and he, Jacob, 
should take the meat in and make his father, who 
was very old and almost blind, think he was Esau. 
Then his father would bless him with all the flocks 
and herds and riches. Jacob told her he was 
afraid his father would know he was not Esau 
because Esau had very rough hands with hair on 

55 



Bible Stories From the Old Testament 

them. So his mother took the skin of the kids 
and covered his hands and neck with it, so if his 
father felt of them he would be deceived. All 
this was very wrong of both Rebekah and Jacob, 
to deceive a poor, old blind man, and the only 
way for ns to think of it is that perhaps they 
didn't understand just how wicked it was because 
they were blinded by selfishness. 

Jacob .took the meat and went to his father and 
his father said, ^'Who art thou, my son?'' 
and Jacob said to his father, '^I am Esau, thy 
first born. I have done accordingly as thou bade 
me. Arise, I pray thee, sit, and eat of my veni- 
son that thy soul may bless me." Thus he de- 
ceived his father, though we must believe that he 
felt guilty in his heart, and we know that in after- 
years he was very, very sorry. Isaac said to 
him, ^ ^ How is it that thou hast found it so quickly, 
my son?" Then Jacob had to tell another lie, 
because one lie always brings another. He said, 
''Because the Lord, thy Grod brought it to me." 
And again he must have felt very guilty and 
wicked at saying God had helped him. Isaac 

56 



Isaac's Blessing 

seemed to feel that perhaps he was being de- 
ceived, for he said, ^^Come near, I pray thee, 
that I may feel thee, my son, whether thou be 
my very son Esau, or nof So he took hold of 
Jacob's hands and felt the hair of the kid's skin 
that Eebekah had put there and he thought it 
was Esau; so he blessed Jacob and gave him 
all his lands and flocks and herds and riches and 
told him that he should be master of everything 
when he, Isaac, was dead. 

It happened, however, that just as Isaac had 
finished his blessing of Jacob, Esau came in with 
the savory meat he had prepared, and he brought 
it to his father and told him to eat that his soul 
might bless Esau, his first born son. Then Isaac 
said, ^'Who art thou?" And Esau said, ^'I am 
they first born, Esau." And then when Isaac 
found out how he had been deceived he was angry 
and he trembled exceedingly, and said: ^*Who 
then is he that hath taken venison and brought 
it to me and I have eaten it before thou camest 
and have blessed him?" 

When Esau heard how Jacob had deceived their 

57 



Bible Stories From the Old Testament 

old, blind father he was very, very angry, but to 
his father he cried out: ^' Bless me even also, 
Oh, my father. Hast thou not reserved a blessing 
for me?'' Isaac was very sorrowful because he 
had been deceived into giving away all the pos- 
sessions he had meant Esau to have, but he had 
promised them to Jacob and he could not break 
his promise ; so he told Esau that he would have 
to serve his brother, Jacob, but that he should 
always have plenty and should never want. 

Esau was very angry at Jacob and said that 
Jacob had first taken away his birthright un- 
fairly and had now stolen his blessing and that 
he would kill Jacob. Eebekah heard how angry 
Esau was and she told Jacob he must go away. 
Isaac called Jacob to him before he went and 
forgave and blessed him, and told him to go to 
Isaac's mother's old home, the home to which 
Eliezer had gone to find Eebekah, and there to 
choose him a wife, and live there. And Jacob 
went. 



58 




o 



JACOB'S LADDEE 

Genesis XXVIII :10-22 

TACOB and Esau were only young men when 
^ all this happened, hardly more than boys, in 
fact, and Jacob must have felt very lonely and 
homesick as he started out on his long journey. 
He had done a wicked thing, first, in taking ad- 
vantage of his brother 's hunger to gain his birth- 
right, and then in deceiving his old, blind father. 
Therefore his heart must have been very sorry 
and heavy. 

He had to travel over a very lonely land, all 
sand and rocks as far as he could see, with this- 
tles and prickley cactii growing over them. 

When night came he looked about for a place 
in which to lie down and rest, but there was noth- 
ing but sand and rocks and it was very lonely. 
Perhaps he was a little bit frightened at being^ 
alone in such a lonely place, and if he had known 
that God is everywhere, as we do, he would have 

59 



Bible Stories From the Old Testament 

knelt down and prayed to be forgiven and to be 
taken care of as we would do. But he thought 
God was angry with him and would not look upon 
him there. He gathered together some stones for 
pillows and laid his head upon them. 

Of course his last thoughts before going to 
sleep would be troubled and sad and he would 
wish that he had not been wicked and deceitful 
so that he might be in his own bed at home with 
his father and mother and brother, and God over- 
head loving him. The desert must have looked 
very big and dark and lonely with no friendly 
trees about and no soft grass underneath, but 
only sand and rocks, and it must have been still, 
— very, very still. 

The stars were there, though, the beautiful, 
twinkling shining stars, and they would twinkle 
down at Jacob lying there so lonely on a pillow 
of stones, and try to give him a message of love. 
Perhaps there was a moon, also, a soft, beautiful 
white moon that Jacob would watch coming up 
way across the desert, trailing a silvery light be- 
hind her like a long garment, and sending a 

60 



Jacob's Ladder 

broad shaft of white light ahead of her that might 
look to a tired, lonely boy like a — ^yes, like a lad- 
der that might even reach up to Heaven. And 
the moon and the stars would look very sweet and 
friendly to lonely Jacob and finally he wonld go 
to sleep with the broad, white shaft of light shin- 
ing down upon him. 

And while he was asleep God sent a dream to 
comfort him. He dreamed that he really saw a 
ladder, a ladder all silvery white and sparkling 
with thousands of tiny stars reaching from earth 
up into Heaven where all was light and music 
and sweetness, and that up and down this ladder 
beautiful angels, also all silvery and white, were 
walking. And he dreamed that at the top of the 
ladder, right at the very Door of Heaven, stood 
the Lord, and that the Lord spoke to Jacob and 
told him that He was Jacob's Father just the 
same as He was Isaac's and Abraham's. And 
that he would forgive Jacob and take care of 
him. ** Behold," God said to him, **I am with 
thee and will keep thee in all places where thou 
goest." 

61 



Bible Stories From the Old Testament 

Then Jacob woke np and his heart sang for 
gladness because God had forgiven him and would 
always be with him. He was amazed also, to find 
that God was there, on the sandy, lonely desert 
with him just as He had been in Jacob's father's 
house. He sat up and looked about him and al- 
though the sparkling, shining ladder was gone he 
could feel God with him. ^^ Surely,'' he said to 
himself in his surprise, ^^ surely, the Lord is in 
this place, and I knew it not. This is none other 
but the House of God and this is the gate of 
Heaven." And Jacob looked about him at the 
long dreary stretches of desert sand and rocks, 
feeling a new joy in his heart that God could be 
even here. 

So he took up the stones that had been his pil- 
low and made an altar of them and anointed them 
with oil, which was a custom of that land, show- 
ing that it had been dedicated to God. And Jacob 
promised God that if He would watch over him 
and give him bread to eat and raiment to wear, 
and would sometime bring him back to his 
father's house, he would try to serve God faith- 



Jacob's Ladder 

fully, and that he would always give to God one-^ 
tenth of all he had. Then he left the altar of 
stones there, naming it Bethel, and went on his 
journey with a lighter heart, feeling as if God 
were with him and leading him. 

Whenever you, dear children, are lonely or in 
trouble I hope you will look at the moon and the 
stars and remember Jacob's ladder, and the 
words which God spoke from it. ^^ Behold, I am 
with thee and will keep thee in all places whither 
thou goest. ' ' 



63 



JACOB AND EACHEL 

Genesis XXIX 

TT^ INALLY Jacob came to the land where his 
mother's brother, Laban, lived. Before him 
was a field, and in the field a great well of water 
where the shepherds brought their sheep to be 
watered. There were flocks of sheep lying all 
about the well. A great stone covered the well 
and this stone was taken off when they wanted to 
draw water for the sheep. 

Jacob spoke to the shepherds who were there 
and asked them if they knew Laban and they said 
they did. He asked them if Laban was well and 
they said he was. ** There is Eachel, Laban 's 
daughter, coming now with sheep to water, ' ' they 
said. 

Rachel came across the field driving her 
father's sheep for she took care of them. 

Laban had two daughters ; Leah who, the Bible 

64 



Jacob and Eachel 

says, was tender-eyed, and Eachel who was very 
beautiful and fair to look upon. 

When Jacob saw Eachel he went to meet her 
and told her that he was the son of Eebekah, her 
father's sister, and he kissed her. Eachel went 
and told her father that Jacob had come, and 
Laban ran out and greeted Jacob and kissed him 
and took him into their own house. 

Jacob staid there a month helping Laban. Then 
Laban told Jacob that it was not fair he should 
work for nothing and asked him what he wanted 
in pay. Jacob told Laban that he loved his 
daughter Eachel, and that he would work seven 
years for her, if Laban would then give her to 
him to be his wife. And Laban said he was well 
pleased. So Jacob served seven years for Eachel, 
and they seemed but a few days so great was his 
love for her. But when he had served these seven 
years Laban was not true to his promise, but 
said that Jacob must take Leah to be his wife 
first, because it was the law that the youngest 
daughter might not be married before the eldest. 
So Jacob served seven more years for Eachel. 

65 



ESAU'S FORGIVENESS 

Genesis XXXIII 

'\7'0U will remember that Jacob was sent away 
-■' from the land where his father and mother 
lived because he had deceived his father and made 
his brother Esan angry. 

He lived in this far land where he had worked 
so long for Eachel twenty years, bnt at last he 
grew homesick to see some of his own people and 
he sent word to Esau that he was coming home 
and Esau sent word back that he would come to 
meet Jacob. 

Now, of course, Jacob felt guilty in his heart 
because he had done wrong toward Esau. When 
he heard that his brother was coming to meet him 
he was afraid and prayed to Grod not to let Esau 
harm him or the women and children who were 
with him. Then he took a great many presents, 
goats and sheep and camels, and sent them to 
Esau by his servants and told them when they 



Esau's Forgiveness 

met Esau to say that these were a present from 
his brother Jacob who was very rich. 

On the next day he saw Esau coming and he 
was afraid. He put his wife, Eachel, and his 
youngest son, Joseph, whom he loved best of all, 
behind his other ten sons, who were Leah's chil- 
dren, and all the other men and the camels so they 
would not get hurt if Esau had come to fight. 

Esau, however, had not come to fight, but had 
come to meet Jacob because he was glad to see 
his brother after so many years and he embraced 
him and kissed him and they both wept, for 
Jacob was very sorry now that he had deceived 
his father and wronged Esau. 

Esau asked him what all the number of sheep 
and goats and camels that he had met on the way 
meant, and Jacob told him that they were a pres- 
ent from him. Esau said that he had all the pos- 
sessions he needed and that Jacob should keep 
his own. But Jacob was so glad to be forgiven 
that he begged Esau to accept the present. To 
please him Esau did and they were both glad 
they had met again after so many years. 

67 



Bible Stories From the Old Testament 

Then they went on their journey, Esau and his 
servants and camels going on before, and Jacob 
with all his flocks of sheep and herds of cattle, 
his servants and the women and children of his 
families following behind, for the little lambs and 
the children must go slowly. 

And now God told Jacob that his name should 
also be Israel, and that to him should be given the 
land which had been Abraham's and Isaac's. 

Long afterward Jacob took another journey. 
God told him to take all his household, his serv- 
ants and his eleven children and cattle and go up 
to Bethel in the Land of Canaan and to make an 
altar there to God. This was the same Bethel 
where Jacob had dreamed of the ladder and felt 
God's forgiveness so long ago. 

They travelled for many days and when they 
had but a little way further to go Eachel, Jacob's 
beautiful wife that he had waited twice seven 
years for, was very ill and died, and in dying she 
left a little baby son whom Jacob named Benjamin, 
and Joseph who was Eachel 's other son loved this 
little baby and took care of it after the mother died. 

68 



JOSEPH'S DEEAMS 

Genesis XXXV 11:1-12 

T OSEPH, you will remember was best beloved 
^ of Jacob, his father, before Benjamin was 
born, because he was the child of his old age. 
He was very much like other little boys whom 
you may know. He was a good boy and so 
much loved by his father that perhaps he had 
been just a little bit spoiled by being told 
how good he was. He may have thought him- 
self a little bit better than his brothers (which 
he undoubtedly was) and that would account for 
what might seem like small boastfulness about 
his dreams and for some lack of wisdom in telling 
them, for he might have known they would an- 
tagonize his brothers. All boys, you know, like 
to dream about what wonderful things they are 
going to do when they grow up, and very likely 
it was such dreaming that brought Joseph to his 

69 



Bible Stories From the Old Testament 

other dreams. His brothers, however, were 
jealous of him and hated him. They could hardly 
speak civilly to him when they met or say, 
"** Peace,*' which was the word of greeting in that 
land. 

The first dream of which Joseph told his broth- 
ers was like this: He dreamed that he and his 
brothers were binding sheaves in the fields and 
that his own sheaf stood upright and all his bro- 
ther's sheaves stood round about and bowed to his 
sheaf, kneeling to it as if in deference. His 
"brothers were very angry at this. They thought 
Joseph meant that he should reign over them and 
have power over them and they hated him all the 
more. 

Then Joseph dreamed another dream in which 
the sun and the moon and all the eleven stars 
knelt to him in deference and this dream he told 
to his father and brothers also. His father re- 
buked him and asked him if he thought he and 
his mother and all his brothers were going to bow 
themselves to the earth for him. But while Jo- 
seph's brothers only hated him for his dreams 

70 



Joseph's Dreams 

his father remembered them, thinking in his heart, 
perhaps, that some day his best beloved son, Jo- 
seph, might indeed reign over all of them and be 
so great a man that they wonld bow themselves 
to the earth before him. 



71 



JOSEPH SOLD BY HIS BROTHERS 

Genesis XXXV 11:12-36 

f ACOB loved Joseph so much better than he 
^ did any of the rest of his sons that he made 
for him a beautiful coat, a coat of many colors, 
such as princes wore. Of course Jacob loved lit- 
tle Benjamin even as he did Joseph, for Benja- 
min also, was the son of his old age and the 
son of Rachel whom Jacob had loved so dearly 
and who had died at Benjamin's birth; but Ben- 
jamin was yet a very little boy and had to stay 
at home with his father while the other sons were 
out upon the fields tending their flocks. 

One time Jacob sent Joseph out to the fields 
where his older brothers were with their sheep 
to see if they were all well and the flocks all right 
or if they needed anything, for shepherds had 
to stay out upon the hills and in the fields for 
many days at a time without going home. 

72 



Joseph Sold by his Brothers 

Joseph wandered about in the fields for some 
time looking for his brothers and finally a man 
found him there and asked him whom he was 
seeking. 

''I am looking for my brothers, '^ said Joseph, 
'^tell me, I pray thee, where they feed their 
flocks.'' The man told him that they had gone 
from these fields and he showed him the way to 
where they had gone. Then Joseph set out upon 
his journey again, for the pastures where the 
sheep were being fed were several days' journey 
from his home. 

The brothers saw Joseph coming when he was 
yet a long way off and before he had even got 
near them they began plotting against him. 

*'Let us slay him," they said, *^and cast him 
into some pit, and we will tell our father that 
some beast hath devoured him." 

But Eeuben, the oldest brother, who was kinder 
hearted than the rest, felt sorry for Joseph and 
said: **Let us not slay him, but cast him into 
this pit which is in the wilderness and lay no 
hand upon him." He thought, perhaps, that if 

73 



Bible Stories From the Old Testament 

he conld get the others to agree to this he, himself, 
would come again when they did not know it and 
take Joseph out of the pit and send him to their 
father. 

It was no uncommon thing in these days and in 
this land to cast people into a pit or empty cistern 
when they were wanted to be rid of, as you will 
find when you come to read other tales of the 
Eastern land. 

So when Joseph came among his brothers they 
caught him and stripped him of his coat, his coat 
of many colors that his father had made, and they 
cast him into the pit. 

Then the brothers sat down to eat (all but Reu- 
ben, who had gone a little way off thinking to 
get a chance to come back when they were gone 
and rescue Joseph) , and as they were eating they 
heard the tinkle of bells such as camels wore. 
They looked up and saw a band of Ishmaelites 
coming and the camels were loaded with spices 
and balm and myrrh, things which the Ishmae- 
lites were going to sell in Egypt, a rich country 
to the south. 

74 




WILDE'S BIBLE PICTURES 



JOSF.PH POT.D INTO EGYPT 

Page Ik 



DOKE 1833-1883 



Joseph Sold by his Brothers 

You will remember that the Ishmaelites were 
the people who were named after Ishmael, that 
son of Hagar who almost died of thirst in the 
wilderness, and who afterward always lived in 
the wilderness because he liked the wild life there. 

When the brothers saw the Ishmaelites coming, 
one of them, Judah, said to the others: **What 
will it profit us if we do kill our brother and con- 
ceal his blood? Come, let us sell him to the Ish- 
maelites and let not our hand be upon him, for 
he is our brother and our flesh.'' 

The others liked this plan better than killing 
Joseph, so they took him out of the pit and sold 
him to the Ishmaelites for twenty pieces of silver 
and the Ishmaelites carried him otf down into 
Egypt to be a slave. 

Now Eeuben, who had been away while they 
sold Joseph, came back, and when he saw that 
Joseph was not there he was frightened. He was 
afraid his brother was killed and he took hold of 
his clothes and tore at them and cried: ^^The 
child is not, and I, whither shall I go ? ' ' 

Then the other brothers did a heartless and 

75 



Bible Stories From the Old Testament 

cruel thing. They killed a kid and took Joseph's 
pretty coat and dipped it in the blood. They 
sent it to their father and asked him if he knew 
whose coat it was. 

The poor old man did know the coat for he had 
made it for his loved son, and he wept and wrung 
his hands and cried: ^^It is my son's coat. An 
evil beast hath devoured him. Joseph is without 
doubt rent in pieces.'' All his sons and daugh- 
ters rose up to comfort him but he would not be 
comforted, and yet they did not tell him that it 
was a cruel trick. Perhaps they were afraid of 
Jacob's wrath if they did. Jacob was a broken- 
hearted old man and said, ^ ^ I will go to my grave 
mourning for my son." 



76 



JOSEPH IN PEISON 

Genesis XXXIX :l-23 

rriHE Ishmaelites, to whom the brothers had 
^ sold Joseph, sold him again to Potiphar, who 
was a captain of the king of Egypt's guard, and 
who lived in a splendid house and had many 
slaves and servants. Joseph was so good and 
faithful and honest that Potiphar trusted him 
with all the treasures of his house and every- 
thing he had because he believed that the Lord 
favored Joseph and that everything would go 
well under Joseph's care. He made him ruler 
over all his lands and houses and all the people 
of his house. But Potiphar 's wife was a wicked 
woman and because Joseph would not obey some 
of her commands which he knew it would be 
wrong to do, she turned Potiphar against Joseph 
and had him put in prison. 

77 



Bible Stories From the Old Testament 

God knew that Joseph had done right, however, 
and so even though he was in prison God helped 
him to be always a good man. He was so trust- 
worthy and earnest that the keeper of the prison 
saw what a faithful man he was just as Potiphar 
had done, and he put all the prisoners under his 
charge, and gave him complete control over 
everything in the prison. 



78 



THE DREAMS OF THE BUTLER AND 
BAKER 

Genesis XL:1'23 

xrOU will remember that Joseph had always 

* been a dreamer and had been fond of inter- 
preting his dreams, that is, to tell what he thought 
they meant. 

When he was cast into prison in Egypt it hap- 
pened that Pharoah, the King of Egypt, had be- 
come angry with his chief bntler and chief baker 
and they were put into the same prison with 
Joseph. 

In those old days the people believed that there 
was a meaning to all their dreams and at almost 
every king's court there was some one who was 
called the Interpreter of Dreams. 

One morning Joseph came into the room where 
the butler and baker were imprisoned and found 

79 



Bible Stories From the Old Testament 

them looking very sad. He said to them, *^ Where- 
fore look ye so sadly today?'' 

They told him that they had dreamed a dream, 
each of them, and there was no one to tell them 
what their dreams meant. Joseph told them to 
tell him their dreams and he would interpret 
them. So the chief butler told his dream which 
was this: 

*'In my dream,'' said he, *^ behold a vine was be- 
fore me ; and in the vine were three branches ; and 
it was as though it was budded and her blossoms 
shot forth ; and the clusters thereof brought forth 
ripe grapes. And Pharaoh's cup was in my hand 
and I took the grapes and pressed them into Pha- 
raoh's cup and I gave the cup into Pharaoh's 
hand." 

Then Joseph said to him: ^^This is the inter- 
pretation of it: The three branches are three 
days: Yet within three days shall Pharaoh lift 
up thine head and restore thee to thy place. And 
thou shalt deliver Pharaoh's cup into his hand 
after the former manner when thou wast butler." 
Then Joseph begged the butler to remember him 

80 



The Dreams of the Butler and Baker 

when Pharaoh should have restored the butler 
to his favor and to mention him to the king. For, 
he told the butler, he had been stolen away out 
of the land of the Hebrews and had done nothing 
to deserve being put into a dungeon. 

When the chief baker heard the interpretation 
of the chief butler's dream he was pleased with 
Joseph and told his dream. 

^^I, also, was in my dream and, behold, I had 
three white baskets upon my head; and in the 
uppermost basket there was all manner of baked 
meat for Pharaoh; and the birds did eat them 
out of the basket upon my head.'' 

Then Joseph interpreted his dream and told him 
that the three white baskets were three days and 
that in three days Pharaoh would have the 
baker 's head cut off and he would be hanged from 
a tree and the birds would come and eat his flesh 
from off him. 

Now, this is what the Bible says came true : 

**And it came to pass the third day which was 
Pharaoh's birthday that he made a feast unto all 
his servants. And Pharaoh restored the chief 

81 



Bible Stories From the Old Testament 

butler again to Ms butler ship where he gave the 
cup into Pharaoh's hand as he had used to do; 
but he hanged the chief baker as Joseph had in- 
terpreted to them. Yet the chief butler did not 
remember Joseph but forgot him." 



PHARAOH'S DREAMS 

Genesis XLI:l-46 

T II THEN Joseph had been in prison for two 
^ ^ years Pharaoh had a dream. He dreamed 
that he stood by a river and that there came up 
out of the river seven well-favored and fattened 
kine, which means cattle, and they fed in a 
meadow. And after them came up seven ill- 
favored and lean fleshed kine and they stood on 
the river bank beside the others. And the seven 
ill-favored and lean kine ate up the seven well- 
favored and fattened kine. And then Pharaoh 
awoke. 

Then he slept and dreamed another dream and 
behold, seven ears of corn came up upon one 
stalk, rank and good. And seven thin ears and 
blasted with the east wind came up after them. 
And tJie seven thin ears devoured the seven rank 
and full ears. Then Pharaoh awoke again. When 

83 



Bible Stories From the Old Testament 

he awoke he was troubled and he sent for all the 
magicians of Egypt and all the wise men, and 
told them his dreams but there was none of them 
that could interpret them. Then the chief butler 
spoke up and said that he remembered while he 
was prisoner in the ward of the guard's house 
with the chief baker, he and the baker also had 
dreamed dreams, and that a young man, a He- 
brew, named Joseph, had interpreted their 
dreams, and that what he had told them had come 
to pass. 

Then Pharaoh sent for Joseph. They brought 
him hastily out of the dungeon and he shaved 
himself and changed his clothes and came to 
Pharaoh. Pharaoh said to Joseph, ^^I have 
dreamed a dream and there is none that can un- 
derstand it to interpret it, and I have heard that 
thou canst interpret a dream.'' 

Joseph told Pharaoh that it was not himself 
who could interpret dreams but that God would 
speak through him. Then Pharaoh told him his 
dreams about the seven well-favored and fat- 
tened kine and the seven ill-favored and lean kine, 

84 



Pharoah's Dreams 

and about tlie seven ears of com upon one stalk 
and the seven thin and wind blasted ears upon 
another. And Joseph answered Pharaoh likfe 
this: ^^God hath showed Pharaoh what he i» 
about to do. The seven good kine are seven 
years; and the seven good ears are seven years^ 
the dream is the same. And the seven thin and 
ill-favored kine that came up after them are seven 
years ; and the seven empty ears blasted with the 
east wind shall be seven years of famine." Jo- 
seph told Pharaoh there would come seven year* 
of great plenty throughout all the land of Egypt. 
And that after that there should be seven years 
of famine and all the plenty would be forgotten, 
that the famine would be very, very great and 
there would be terrible suffering. He also told 
Pharaoh that the reason God had given him two 
dreams both meaning the same thing was be- 
cause God wanted him to be sure and understand 
what was about to happen so he could prepariB 
for it, and that it would happen very soon. Jo- 
seph told Pharaoh too, that he ought to look 
about for a man who was wise and just and set 

85 



Bible Stories From the Old Testament 

him over the land of Egypt, one who wonld ap- 
point officers to see that in the years of plenty 
great amounts of corn and grain were stored 
away against the years of famine. 

Pharaoh thought this was the wise thing to 
do and he asked his servants if they knew of 
snch a man whom he could make the ruler over 
ail Egypt under him, but no one knew of such 
a one so Pharaoh said to Joseph: 

** Because God hath shewed thee all this, there 
is none so discreet and wise as thou art. Thou 
shalt rule over my house, and according to thy 
word shall my house be ruled ; only in the throne 
will I be greater than thou. See, I have made 
thee ruler over all Egypf And Pharaoh took 
off his ring from his hand and put it on Joseph's 
hand. He put garments of fine linen on Joseph 
and a gold chain about his neck ; and Joseph rode 
in one of the king's chariots and all the people 
shouted to him and bowed before him just as he 
had dreamed in his youth. 



JOSEPH, THE RULEE 

Genesis XLI:46-57; XLII:l-38; XLIII: 1-15 

T7' OR seven years after Joseph ruled Egypt 
'*• under Pharaoh the harvests were wonder- 
fully plentiful. There was more corn than the 
people could use or knew what to do with. So 
Joseph had all the corn that the people did not 
need gathered into storehouses against the time 
when the corn would not grow and there should 
come a famine; a famine is a time when there 
are no harvests and there is nothing to eat, and 
people suffer from hunger. 

And sure enough, just as Joseph had inter- 
preted Pharaoh's dream, there ivas a famine 
which lasted seven years. The famine was in all 
the other countries as well as in Egypt, but Egypt 
was all the country that had corn in its store- 
houses or anything to eat, and this was only be- 

87 



Bible Stories From the Old Testament 

cause of Joseph's thoughtfulness and wise pro- 
vision. 

"When the people of other countries heard that 
Egypt had more corn than was needed by the 
people they went there to buy com for them- 
selves. Among those who came were Joseph's 
own brothers — all of them but Benjamin, the 
youngest. He staid at home with his father, 
Jacob, because Jacob was afraid something might 
happen to him as it had to his other son Joseph, 
for Jacob had never ceased to mourn for Joseph, 
whom he thought was dead. 

Now, of course Joseph's brothers had all heard 
of this great and mighty ruler of Egypt of whom 
they had come to buy corn, but they never 
dreamed that it was their own brother Joseph 
whom they had sold as a slave to the Ishmaelites 
a good many years ago. Joseph knew them at 
once, however, even though they were grown men 
and thin and lean from hunger, but he wanted to 
see what kind of men they had grown to be, so 
he did not tell them who he was but spoke roughly 
to them and said, '^Whence come ye?" 

88 



Joseph, tlie Euler 

They answered and said, ^^From the Land of 
Canaan to buy bread. ^* Joseph pretended not to 
believe them and told them he thought they were 
spies come to see how much corn there was in 
Egypt. But they told him they were twelve sons 
of one man who lived in the Land of Canaan and 
that the youngest of these sons was with their 
father, Jacob, in Canaan, and the other one was 
not, meaning he was dead, for they meant Joseph 
and they thought he would have died in slavery 
before this. 

Then Joseph told them that he still believed 
them to be spies and that they must all go to 
prison for three days. On the third day he went 
to them and told them that all but one of them 
might take corn and go home to their families 
who were starving, but that one must stay in 
prison until they came again and that when they 
came again they must bring their youngest 
brother or he would never let them have any more 
corn. So they left their brother in the prison 
and went sorrowfully toward their home for they 
knew their old father would be deeply grieved. 

89 



Bible Stories From the Old Testament 

When Joseph had filled their sacks with corn 
he told his servants not to take his brothers' 
money but to put it into the sacks right on top 
of the corn. Wlien the brothers stopped on their 
way home to rest their camels and eat they 
opened their sacks and were very much amazed 
at finding the money and could not understand it. 

When they came to their home and told their 
father about the journey and that the great ruler 
had said they could never have any more com 
unless they brought their youngest brother back 
with them, the father was deeply grieved and 
worried, and he said: ''Me ye have bereaved of 
my children: Joseph is not and Simeon (the 
brother whom Joseph had kept) is not and Ben- 
jamin ye will take away." And he said Benjamin 
should not go. 

Reuben, the kind-hearted eldest brother who 
had tried to save Joseph from the pit years ago, 
told his father not to worry about Benjamin, for 
he would take care of him and would surely bring 
him back. 

Jacob was very unhappy and reproached them 

90 



Joseph, the Ruler 

for having ever told the great ruler that they had 
a younger brother at home, but they told him how 
the great ruler had asked them all sorts of ques- 
tions about their home and their father, if he 
was an old man, and if he was well, and if they 
had another brother; and how, when they had 
told him they had, he had said they must bring 
him when they came again or they could have no 
more corn. Finally Jacob had to let Benjamin 
go, for the corn was nearly all gone again and 
there was no other place to get any. But he was 
very unhappy about it for he thought the great 
ruler would keep Benjamin as he had Simeon, 
perhaps for a slave, never dreaming that it was 
his own dear Joseph. 

He told them that if they must take Benjamin 
with them, to take also a present to the ruler; 
the best fruits in the land, a little balm, some 
honey, spices, myrrh, nuts and almonds. He told 
them to take double money in their hands and also 
to take back the money they had found in their 
sacks of corn, because it might have been an over- 

91 



Bible Stories From the Old Testament 

sight and they be blamed for having carried it 
away. Then he added: 

^^And God Almighty give yon mercy before the 
man that he may send away yonr other brother 
and Benjamin. If I be bereaved of my children, 
I am bereaved." 

So the brothers took the presents and the dou- 
ble money and their yonngest brother Benjamin 
and went again into Egypt. 



JOSEPH AND BENJi^Mm 

Genesis XLIV ; XLV : 1-25 

T ]i THEN the brothers came again into the land 
'^ ^ of Egypt bringing Benjamin with them, 
Joseph told his servants to bring all of them into 
his own house and to make a feast for them be- 
cause he wanted them to eat with him. 

The brothers did not know what to make of 
such kind treatment and they were afraid that 
Joseph had missed the money that was not taken 
for their corn before and had thought they meant 
to be dishonest; so they told one of Joseph's serv- 
ant's about the money and asked him to explain 
to Joseph that they knew nothing about it; but 
the servant told them not to worry about that 
because he had put it in the sacks and it was all 
right. Then the brothers told the steward how 
they had brought presents for Joseph so he would 



Bible Stories From the Old Testament 

let their brother Benjamin go back with them, 
and perhaps Simeon too. Bnt the servant told 
them Joseph would not want their presents and he 
gave them water to bathe in. When Joseph came 
in they bowed down to him just as he had dreamed 
they would when he was a boy. They wanted to 
give him the presents they had brought, but he 
was more anxious to hear about his father. He 
said: "Is your father well? Is the old man of 
whom ye spake! Is he yet alive?" And they 
told him he was. 

Then Joseph looked up and saw his youngest 
brother Benjamin and he said, '^Is this your 
younger brother of whom ye spake to me ? ^ ' And 
when they told him it was he said : ^ ' God be gra- 
cious to thee, my son." Then Joseph had to go 
out of the room for he wanted to go to Benjamin 
and embrace him, he was so glad to see him, but 
he was not yet ready to tell his brothers who he 
was. 

Finally the brothers were ready to start upon 
their journey and Simeon was going with them for 
Joseph had allowed him to go. Again Joseph had 

94 



Joseph and Benjamin 

ordered Ms men to put tlie brothers ' money back 
into their sacks, and into Benjamin's he had told 
them to put his own silver drinking cnp. 

"When the brothers had gone but a little way on 
their journey a man came running after them and 
said that Joseph had sent him to see if any of 
them had his silver drinking cup. The brothers 
were all very sure that none of them had it, so 
sure, indeed, that they told the man if any of 
them had it that one should go back and be Jo- 
seph's slave. The man looked through all their 
sacks and did not find it until he came to Benja- 
min's and there he found it. Then the brothers 
were dreadfully frightened and grieved, for they 
had said that the one who had it should go back 
and be a slave and they knew that if Benjamin 
had to go back their poor old father would die of 
grief. So they all turned around and went very 
sorrowfully back to Joseph's house where Joseph 
was waiting for them. 

One of the brothers spoke to Joseph and told 
him that they had no idea how the cup came there 
but that they had said if it were found in any 

95 



Bible Stories From the Old Testament 

<Mie of their sacks the owner of that sack should 
go back and be a slave to Joseph. This brother, 
who was Judah, begged Joseph to let Benjamin 
go home and to take him instead for a slave, 
which was a very noble thing to do even if he had 
been wicked a long time before to Joseph. He 
spoke very sorrowfully to Joseph reminding him 
how he (Joseph) had asked them if they had a 
father or a brother and how they had answered 
him, **We have a father, an old one, and a child 
of his old age, a little one; and his brother is 
dead and he alone is left of his mother, and his 
father loveth him.*' Judah reminded him how 
he had commanded them to bring this younger 
brother and how they had told him that if this 
child should leave his father, the old man would 
die of grief. */But,** Judah said, **You com- 
manded us to bring him, saying we should have 
no more com if we did not. So we told our 
father and he was torn with grief, saying **one 
son is already dead, having been slain by wild 
beasts (meaning Joseph), and now if ye take 
this one away from me and mischief befall him ye 

96 



Joseph and Benjamin 

shall bring down my gray hairs with sorrow to 
the grave.' " And Judah told Joseph that now, 
if they had to go back and tell their father that 
Benjamin was kept by the great ruler of Egypt 
as a slave their father would surely die, and it 
would come to pass that his gray hairs had been 
brought down with sorrow to the grave. And he 
implored Joseph to let Benjamin go, for if Ben- 
jamin had to stay their father would blame Judah 
also, because he had told their father that he 
would surely bring the boy back in safety. 

Then Joseph could not wait any longer. He 
sent all the servants out of the room and then 
told his brothers who he was. ^*I am Joseph, your 
brother, ' ' he cried, and he stretched out his arms 
to them, so glad and loving he was, and he wept 
so that the servants outside heard him. The very 
first question he asked was, ^^Is my father yet 
alive f ' ' But his brothers were so surprised and 
amazed that they could not reply. Then Joseph 
held out his arms again and begged them to come 
near to him and told him he was really and truly 
the little brother they had sold into Egypt so long 

97 



Bible Stories From the Old Testament 

ago. When they did believe him they began to tell 
Mm how very sorry they had been that they were 
so wicked as to sell him for a slave; but Joseph 
told them not to regret it for it had all turned out 
for the best, that he believed the hand of God 
had been in it all through the way, and that God 
had sent him here to save their lives and a great 
many more people's lives by taking care of the 
corn. He said, *^So it was not you that sent me 
hither, but God; and he hath made me a father 
to Pharaoh and lord of all his house and a ruler 
throughout all the land of Egypt.'' Then he told 
them to make haste and go home to their father 
and tell him that they had found Joseph, and to 
bring him back with them to Egypt that Jacob 
might see how great a man his beloved son had 
become; and he told them to tell his father to 
hurry and tarry not, for he was in such haste to 
see him. He told them also to bring all their people 
and their flocks and herds and servants, and that 
they should live there in his land all the days of 
their lives and he would take care of them 
through the famine and afterward. 




wiLDE^s BIBLE PICTURES JOSEPH MAKING HIMSELF KNOWN TO HIS BRETHREN dore 183-31883 

Page US 



Joseph and Benjamin 

Then he embraced Benjamin and wept, and he 
kissed all his brothers, for he had long ago for- 
given them their cruelty to him and he loved them. 
Then the brothers hastened homeward and 
Joseph told Pharaoh his good news, that his 
father and brothers were coming, and Pharaoh 
was glad and told him to make great preparations 
for receiving them. 



JOSEPH AND HIS FATHER 

Genesis XLV:25-28; XLVI:l-8 

T^THEN Joseph's brothers came to their home 
~ ^ in Canaan where their old father, Jacob, 
was so anxiously waiting for them they eagerly 
told him all the story of the great ruler in Egypt. 
How he had sold them corn and then put the 
money back in their bags ; how he had insisted on 
their bringing Benjamin back with them; of the 
finding of the cup in Benjamin's sack, and at 
last they said: 

^^And this great ruler, this mighty prince who 
ruleth over all Egypt is thine own son, thy lost 
son, Joseph, who was not killed by wild beasts, 
but whom we sold into Egypt for twenty pieces 
of silver, long ago.'' 

You can imagine that Jacob could hardly be- 
lieve them for he had so long thought Joseph 

100 



Joseph and His Father 

dead. The Bible says, **his heart fainted." But 
when his sons showed him all the wagons which 
Joseph had sent to carry the women and littlie 
children, the ten asses laden with all manner of 
good things from Egypt, and ten more asses ladela 
with corn and bread and meat for his father and 
their families to eat on the way, be believed that 
Joseph was alive and had sent for him and be 
said, ^^It is enough. Joseph, my son, is yet alivej 
I will go and see him before I die." 

So Jacob took all his family and his sons and 
their families and all their flocks and camels and 
started for Egypt where Joseph was. 

One night they stopped at a place called Beer- 
sheba to rest and sleep. They pitched their tents, 
tied the camels out to feed and turned the flocks 
loose with men to watch them. 

Jacob lay in his tent where the stars shone in 
at the open door and suddenly he thought he heard 
a voice calling, ^^ Jacob, Jacob." And Jacob an- 
swered, ^^Here am I." Then the voice said, **I 
am God, the God of thy father; fear not to go 
down into Egypt for I will there make of thee a 

101 



Bible Stories From the Old Testament 

great nation. I will go down with thee into Egypt 
and I will surely also bring thee np again, and 
Joseph, thy son, shall put his hand upon thine 
eyes." 

So Jacob was comforted and in the morning 
Ms sons put him again in the wagon, with all 
their wives and their little ones and they went on 
their journey, seventy people all together. 

Judah, that brother of Joseph's who had spoken 
so sorrowfully to him about Benjamin went on 
ahead to tell Joseph that his father was coming. 
Then Joseph, all robed in beautiful garments like 
a prince, went in a chariot trimmed with silver 
and gold to meet his father. 

We will like to think of how they saw each other 
coming from afar off. Joseph in his wonderful 
chariot drawn by beautiful horses, and Jacob, the 
old father, in a wagon made comfortable with 
soft pillows and blankets, with flocks of sheep and 
droves of cattle and camels; and of how, when 
they saw each other coming they would cry to the 
horses to hurry and to the men to drive faster, and 
of how when finally they met, Joseph would leap 

102 



Joseph and His Father 

from his chariot and run to his father, and how 
they threw their arms about each other and wept. 
Jacob, the old father who had mourned the loved 
son as dead for so many years, and Joseph the 
little boy sold into slavery, but now a mighty 
prince. 

We can hardly imagine how happy they must 
have been, but the Bible tells us that Jacob said, 
^'Now I am content to die, since I have seen thy 
face, because thou art yet alive." 

Then Joseph went and told Pharaoh, the king, 
that his father and all his brothers and their 
families had come, and Pharaoh was glad for 
Joseph's sake and he gave them a piece of land 
for their own to live in called the Land of Goshen. 
And here they all lived happily until Jacob died. 



THE STOEY OF MOSES AND THE BUL- 
EUSHES 

Exodus 1:15-22; 11:1-25 

T ACOB, the father of the twelve sons, had an- 
^ other name, and this name was Israel. The 
people of his families were called Israelites just 
as the people of IshmaePs families were called 
Ishmaelites. You will remember how all Jacob's 
families, the Israelites, went with him down into 
Egypt to be with Joseph and live in the Land 
of Goshen which Pharaoh gave them. 

After they had lived there a good many years 
this old king Pharaoh died and a new king Pha- 
raoh came to reign in his stead. This new king 
did not know Joseph, for Joseph was dead too, 
so of course he had not the love for Joseph's 
people that the old king had. When he saw how 
many Israelites (who were really Hebrews, you 
know, and people of another land and another 
religion) there were getting to be in Egypt he 

104 



The Story of Moses and the Bulrushes 

was afraid there would soon come to be more 
Hebrews than Egyptians in Egypt so he made a 
dreadful law. This law was that all the little boy 
babies of the Hebrews should be killed and all 
the girl babies should be saved alive. 

Soon after this cruel law was made one of the 
Hebrew women gave birth to a little boy baby. Of 
course she loved him very dearly for he was a 
beautiful, healthy child, and she determined that 
he should not be killed. She hid him in her house 
for three months, but then he grew so big that she 
could no longer hide him and she was afraid the 
king would find him and kill him. So she made a 
little ark, or basket, or bulrushes and covered it 
with pitch outside that the water might not creep 
in. Then she lined the basket with something soft, 
and early one morning she laid the baby in it 
and put it gently down amongst the rushes at 
the river's edge. The baby's sister, who was 
twelve years old and whose name was Miriam, 
staid near by to see that nothing harmed the baby 
and if any one should come to get it. 

Pharaoh's daughter (who, being the daughter 

105 



Bible Stories From the Old Testament 

of a king must liave been a princess, you know) 
came down to the river to bathe, and her maid 
servants walked along by the river's edge. 

When the princess saw the little basket 
amongst the rushes she wondered what it could 
be and sent her maid to fetch it. The maid did 
so and the princess opened it. She must have 
been very much surprised to find a beautiful little 
baby in the basket, but when the child cried the 
princess lifted it out in her arms and held it very 
gently, saying, ^'This must be one of the Hebrew 
children. ' ' 

Then the baby's sister, Miriam, came running 
up to the princess and said, ^^ Shall I go and call 
a nurse of the Hebrew women that she may nurse 
the child for thee?" And the princess said to 
her, ^^Go." 

The little maid hurried away, glad that her 
baby brother was cared for, and she called her 
mother — the baby's own mother. You can think 
how glad this mother must have been to care for 
her own baby and to think that the Princess would 
not let him be killed. 

106 




WILDE'S BIBLE PICTURES 



MOSES AND THE DAUfiHTER OF PHARAOH 

Page 106 



DOKE 1833-1883 



The Story of Moses and the Bulruslies 

Pharaoh's daughter told her to take the baby 
and nurse it and that she, herself, would watch 
over it and not let the cruel king kill it. She 
named him Moses which means '^raised up,'' for, 
said the princess, ^^I drew him out of the water." 

The princess took care of Moses a great many 
years until he grew to be a man, and he was 
taught many things as a princess's son should 
be. But all these years Moses remembered his 
own people, the Hebrews, and was sorry for them. 
He knew they were not happy under the ruler- 
ship of this King Pharaoh as they had been un- 
der the old king and Joseph. 

One time Moses saw an Egyptian strike a He- 
brew and he was very angry, so angry that he 
struck the Egyptian and killed him. But when 
the Egyptians knew that Moses had killed one of 
their men they were angry at him and he no 
longer dared stay among tJiem but went away and 
lived in another land called Midian. 

You will think there was a great deal of fighting 
and killing and cruelty in these old days, and so 
there was; but it was only because they did not 

107 



Bible Stories From the Old Testament 

know any better. You see Jesus bad not yet come 
to teach people that fighting and killing and cru- 
elty were against God's laws and that when peo- 
ple loved one another and tried to help one an- 
other to be good they were doing what God wants 
them to do. The people listened for the voice of 
God, to be sure, but very often they did not un- 
derstand Him. 



108 



MOSES AND THE SHEPHEED GIRLS 

Exodus 11:15-25; 111:1-22 

^\T OU will remember that when first the Israel- 
^ ites went to live in the Land of Goshen with 
Joseph as ruler nnder King Pharaoh, they were 
very happy, and that when this King Pharaoh 
and Joseph were both dead, another King Pha- 
raoh reigned and they were made slaves and were 
not allowed to go back to the land of their fathers, 
the Land of Canaan, when they wanted to. They 
cried to God and groaned in their bondage and 
prayed God to remember them and deliver them 
out of slavery to the Egyptians. 

Now, when Moses fled from Egypt he went to 
the Land of Midian. One day when he was wan- 
dering about before he had found a home or any 
place to stay he sat down beside a well to rest. 

There was a priest of Midian who had seven 

109 



Bible Stories From the Old Testament 

daughters, and it happened that as Moses sat there 
by the well resting, these daughters of the priest 
came down to the well to draw water and fill the 
trough for their father's flocks of sheep to drink. 

You may remember how Eachel came down to 
a well in the same way to water her father's 
flocks the time that Jacob met her there. You 
see in this country every one who was at all 
wealthy had great flocks of sheep and cattle and 
goats, and in the fields were wells covered over 
with great stones where the shepherds brought 
their flocks to drink at troughs that were built 
beside the wells. 

When these daughters of the priest of Midian 
came to the well to draw water for their flocks 
there were a great many other shepherds there 
also who had come to water their flocks. They 
were rude men, many of them, rough and without 
gentleness, and they drove the shepherd girls 
away from the well that they might draw water 
for their own flocks. 

Moses was kinder hearted than these shepherds 
and he rose up and helped the girl shepherds to 

110 



Moses and the Shepherd Girls 

draw water, keeping the rough and ill-mannered 
shepherds back until they were through. 

When the girl shepherds had finished watering 
their flocks they returned with them to their 
father, the priest, and he was surprised that they 
were back so soon. **How is it," he said, **that 
ye are come so soon today?" 

They replied, **An Egyptian delivered us out 
of the hand of the shepherds, and also drew water 
for us and watered the flocks." 

Then the priest asked where this man was and 
sent his daughters to find him that he might thank 
him. They did so and after that Moses married 
one of the priest's daughters, Zip-por-rah, and 
lived in their house and tended the priest's flocks. 



Ill 



MOSES AND THE BUENING BUSH 

Exodus III 

/^NE day Moses took the priest's flocks away 
^^ over to the back of the desert where he came 
to a mountain called Horeb, the mountain of God. 

As he was going slowly up the side of this 
mountain he thought he saw something ahead of 
him that looked like a bush on fire. He went 
nearer and saw that the bush indeed seemed to 
be burning and yet it never burned up nor was 
consumed. Moses said, ^*I will now turn aside 
and see this great sight, why the bush is not 
burned." 

Then, says the old Hebrew tale, God called to 
him out of the midst of the burning bush, and 
said, ** Moses, Moses!'* 

Moses answered, **Here am I." 

Then God said, **Draw not nigh hither. Put 
thy shoes from off thy feet, for the place whereon 

112 



Moses and the Burning Bush 

thou standest is holy ground.'' And Moses did 
as God bade him and hid his face, for he was 
afraid of so marvelous a sight. 

Then Grod said: ^^I have surely seen the afflic- 
tion of my people which are in Egypt, and have 
heard their cry by reason of their taskmasters, 
for I know their sorrows. And I am come down 
to deliver them out of the hand of the Egyptians 
and to bring them up out of that land unto a good 
land flowing with milk and honey. ' ' 

God told Moses that He had chosen him to go 
down into Egypt to Pharaoh and bring back the 
Israelites out of the land of bondage. At first 
Moses was afraid. He said, ^^Who am I that I 
should go to Pharaoh and bring back the Children 
of Israel!'' But God told him that He would 
be with him all the way. He told Moses to go 
down into Egypt and gather together all the eld- 
ers and rulers of the tribes of Israel and tell them 
that God had appeared to him in a burning bush 
and had commanded him to go into Egypt and 
deliver them from bondage. He also told Moses 
that He knew the king of Egypt would not let the 

113 



Bible Stories From the Old Testament 

Hebrews go because he wanted them for slaves, 
but that He, God, would smite the Egyptians and 
then Pharaoh would let them go. 

These old, old stories told by the Hebrews of 
how God appeared to them are very wonderful 
and beautiful stories. They were constantly 
thinking of God and what his message to them 
might be, and so they were able to see ** sermons 
in stones and books in running brooks." 



114 



MOSES, THE DELIVEEER 

Exodus IV:29-31; V; VII; VIII; X; XIII; XIV; 

XVI 

Tyj" OSES, with his brother Aaron, whom God 
•^ -*■ had sent to meet Moses in the wilderness, 
went as God had bade them, down into Egypt and 
gatJiered together all the elders of the children 
of Israel. Then they went to Pharaoh and asked 
him to let the Hebrews go. They told him that 
God had sent them to ask him to let them go. 

Pharaoh said, *^Who is the Lord, that I shonld 
obey his voice to let Israel go? I know not the 
Lord, neither will I let Israel go.'* 

You see the Egyptians did not know God. They 
worshipped idols and images made of wood or 
brass or gold. 

Then Moses asked Pharaoh to let the Israelites 
go just a little way out of Egypt where they 
might make burnt offerings to God and worship 

115 



Bible Stories From the Old Testament 

him in their own way. But Pharaoh would not 
listen. Instead, he called his taskmasters and 
told them to lay even heavier burdens upon the 
Israelites, to give them still harder work to do^ 
and that they must go out into the fields and 
gather straw to make bricks with, where before 
it had been given them, and that in spite of this 
they must make just as many bricks as before or 
they would be beaten. 

For a long, long time Moses and Aaron tried 
in every possible way to get Pharaoh to let the 
Children of Israel go and he would not. Finally 
God sent a plague upon all Egypt. Their crops 
were all spoiled by great swarms of locusts which 
ate them up, their camels and sheep and goats^ 
died by the hundreds and then the people began 
to die. 

Finally Pharaoh made up his mind that God 
was angry because he had made slaves of the 
Israelites and would not let them go, so he sent 
word to Moses to come and get his people and 
take them away. He was so frightened that he 
rose up in the night and sent for Moses and 

116 



Moses, the Deliverer 

Aaron to come. All the Egyptian people were 
frightened and were crying to Pharaoh to get 
these Israelites out of the land for they believed 
God was cursing them because they had been 
cruel to the Hebrews. 

So Moses came and told the Israelites to get 
ready at once to march out of the land of bond- 
age. Some of the women had bread set ready for 
baking the next day, but they could not wait. 
They bound the bread up with cloths in the knead- 
ing troughs and carried it upon their shoulders. 

Then they set out upon their long journey, men, 
women and children, some driving goats and some 
cattle, each one carrying all he could, for they 
were never coming back. There were about six 
hundred thousand of them that walked, besides 
the children. When they were tired and hungry- 
they stopped by the roadside and baked the bread 
that they had brought in the dough, for they had 
not had time to prepare anything to eat. 

Moses carried with him the bones of Joseph, 
for Joseph had told the Israelites that some day 
God would take them back to Canaan, and he had 

117 



Bible Stories From the Old Testament 

made them promise to take his bones back with 
them. God was with them all the way, and the 
Hebrew stories say that he sent a pillar of cloud 
to show them the way by day, and that at night 
ihia pillar of cloud turned into a pillar of fire to 
give them light, and the angel of the Lord was in 
this pillar of cloud. 

When the last of the Israelites had gone out of 
Egypt Pharaoh began to be sorry he had let them 
go, for they were valuable to him as slaves, and 
he decided to take his armies and follow and 
brmg them back. 

The Israelites had gone into camp at a place 
near the Red Sea. All of a sudden they looked 
up and saw the Egyptians coming toward them, 
a great and wonderful army with many chariots, 
driving wildly over the plain, and with armed 
men riding on horseback. 

The Israelites were dreadfully frightened, for 
they feared being killed, and they blamed Moses 
for bringing them, saying they would rather have 
gtayed in Egypt as slaves than to have been 
brought out into this wilderness to be killed. 

118 



Moses, the Deliverer 

Moses told them not to fear, but to trust him 
and stand still and they would see that God would 
take care of them as He had promised. 

They were right at the edge of the Red Sea 
when the Egyptians were almost upon them, but 
God told Moses to lift up his rod over the waters 
of the Red Sea and it would divide so the chil- 
dren might pass over it on dry ground. 

All this time, the Bible says, the angel of the 
Lord was going before the camp of the Israelites 
in a pillar of cloud, but now He went behind them 
that He might protect them from the Egyptians. 
And the pillar of cloud which God had sent to lead 
the Israelites rose up between the Egyptians and 
the camp of the Israelites so the Egyptians could 
not see the Israelites. And the Egyptians could 
not come near them all the night. 

Then Moses stretched his rod out over the Red 
Sea as God had commanded him, and God caused 
a strong east wind to blow all that night so that 
the waters were divided and there was dry land 
in the morning for the Israelites to cross upon. 

When the Egyptians saw the Israelites cross- 

119 



Bible Stories From the Old Testament 

ing on dry land they went in after them, all Pha- 
raoh 's horses and his chariots and his horsemen, 
and then God sent the waters rolling back and 
all the horses and horsemen and all the host of 
Pharaoh's army were drowned. 



120 



HOW GOD FED THE ISRAELITES IN THE 
WILDERNESS 

Exodus XVI 

T 51 rHEN the Israelites saw that God had deliv- 
^ ^ ered them from the Egyptians they were 
glad and they thanked God and made a song to 
Him. It began this way: 

^*I will sing unto the Lord, for He hath tri- 
umphed gloriously: the horse and his rider hath 
He thrown into the sea. Pharaoh's chariots and 
his host hath He cast into the sea : His chosen cap- 
tains are drowned in the Red Sea.'' 

It is quite a long song and full of splendid 
war music, and some day you will read it all 
from the Bible. 

For many years after this Moses and the Is- 
raelites wandered in the wilderness and the Bible 
has a great many wonderful stories of this jour- 

121 



Bible Stories From the Old Testament 

ney which you will like to read as you grow older. 

About two months after they had left Egypt, 
while they were wandering about in the wilder- 
ness, the Israelites again became dissatisfied and 
complained to Moses. They could not find any- 
thing to eat and they told Moses they had rather 
have died as slaves in Egypt where there was al- 
ways plenty of bread than to have come out into 
the wilderness to die of hunger. 

Moses chided the Children of Israel and told 
them that they were doubting God and that if 
they would only trust Him God would always 
care for them. God heard their murmurings, and 
He appeared to Moses in a beautiful, glorious 
cloud and said: *^I have heard the murmurings 
of the Children of Israel: speak unto them, say- 
ing, At even ye shall eat flesh, and in the morn- 
ing ye shall be filled with bread; and ye shall 
know that I am the Lord, thy God. ' ' 

That night when all the birds and wild things 
of the wilderness were seeking a place for rest 
and sleep the quails came up in such quantities 
that they covered the camp, and the Israelites 

122 



How God Fed the Israelites in the Wilderness 

were able to kill great quantities of them, as many 
as they cared to, for food. And in the morning 
they found manna upon the ground, and manna 
was a kind of fruit which served the purpose 
of bread. So God's word was fulfilled as it al- 
ways is. 

Another time while the Children of Israel were 
wandering in the wilderness they came to a place 
where there was no water to drink and again they 
were angry at Moses and said, **Give us water, 
that we may drink; wherefore hast thou brought 
us up out of the land of Egypt to kill us and our 
children and our cattle with thirst f 

Moses cried to God and said, *'0h what shall 
I do unto these people? They be almost ready 
to stone mef 

God told him to take the elders of his peo- 
ple, that is, the leaders under him, and his rod, 
the same rod with which he had caused the Bed 
Sea to roll back, and go to a rock that stood by 
the mountain in Horeb. **And I will stand 
before thee upon the rock,'' said God to Moses, 
**and thou shalt strike the rock with thy rod and 

J 23 



Bible Stories From the Old Testament 

there shall water come out of it, that the people 
may drink.'' And Moses did this and all the 
elders saw him smite the rock with his rod and 
the water gushed forth so that the people might 
drink, and then they believed that God was with 
them taking care of them. 



124 



THE GOLDEN CALF AND THE TABLETS 
OF STONE 

Exodus XIX; XX; XXXII 

TN their wanderings tlie Israelites came into 
^ the wilderness of Sinai where was a mountain 
called Mt. Sinai and they camped before the 
mountain. 

The Bible stories say that Moses went up into 
the mountain to pray and that God called to him 
there. He told Moses to say to all the Israelites 
that He had brought them out of bondage and 
saved them from starving by giving them quail 
to eat and manna to feed upon, and that now 
He wanted them to obey Him in all things. 
He told Moses that if they did so He would make 
them a great nation upon the earth. He also 
told Moses that He would give them some laws 
which they must obey. These laws are the same. 

125 



Bible Stories From the Old Testament 

ten commandments which we learn today and 
which God wants ns to obey just as He did the 
Children of Israel. 

The old Hebrew stories say that God gave the 
ten commandments to Moses written upon tab- 
lets of stone, and that Moses brought them down 
from the mountain in his hand. Whether they 
were written upon stone tablets or not does not 
matter to us, but it does matter that we should 
obey them. 

There were a great many other laws that Moses 
gave the people but these you must read later 
when you come to all these wonderful and beau- 
tiful stories in the Bible itself. 

While Moses was up in Mt. Sinai praying and 
talking with God the people forgot all he had 
taught them about the true God and wanted a 
god they could see to pray to, as they had learned 
of the Egyptians. 

They begged Aaron to make them a god of 
some kind to whom they could pray and Aaron 
told them to bring him some gold and he would. 
So the women brought all their gold earrings and 

126 



The Golden Calf and the Tablets of Stone 

jewels to him and he melted them up and made 
them into a golden calf. Then these foolish peo- 
ple bowed down and worshipped this golden calf^ 
and made songs to it and believed that it conld 
answer their prayers. 

Can you imagine anything so absurd? But yon 
must always remember that they had been living 
in a land where the people worshipped such things 
and prayed to them and that they had not yet 
been long enough with Moses to learn very much 
better. 

When Moses came down from the mountain, 
the Hebrew stories say he had in his hand the 
two stone tablets on which were written the laws 
that God had given him for the people, and when 
he found his people dancing around a golden calf 
and worshipping it he was so astonished and dis- 
appointed that he threw the stone tablets upon 
the ground and broke them. 

Then he talked to the people and told them how 
foolish they were, that the golden calf could 
neither hear nor answer them, but the true God 
who had delivered them out of bondage and fed 

127 



Bible Stories From the Old Testament 

them in the wilderness, would always hear them 
and answer their prayers, if they obeyed Him. 
After a while Moses went back up into the moun- 
tain and asked God to forgive them, telling Him 
that his poor foolish people didn't know any bet- 
ter and that he believed they would not do so any 
more; and God forgave them just as He always 
does, because He loves all His people no matter 
how foolish and wicked they may be. Then Moses 
came down again with two other stone tablets 
that were not broken, and these he set up before 
the people for them to obey. He told the people 
that they ought to build a beautiful place to keep 
the Ten Commandments in and so they did. The 
women brought all their jewels and gold and fine 
cloth to Moses and they built a beautiful Taber- 
nacle and Moses made Aaron the High Priest of 
it, to whom the people brought all their offerings 
for sacrifice unto God ; and everywhere they went, 
throughout all their journeyings the Israelites 
carried the Tabernacle with them. 



128 



rw^ 










THE PEOMISED LAND 

Bueteronomy III; XXXII :44-52 

A LL this time you know, Moses had been tell- 
^^^^ ing the Israelites about the land he was try- 
ing to take them to, the land their fathers had 
come from, the Land of Canaan from where their 
forefather Jacob or Israel had come. And he 
told them so much about what he believed the 
beautiful land to be like that they called it The 
Promised Land. It was so many years ago, you 
know, since the first Israelites had come from 
Canaan with Jacob and his sons to live with 
Joseph in Egypt, that most of the present tribes 
had been born since, and almost none of them 
remembered the land of their forefathers. 

A great many wonderful things happened to 
the Israelites in their wanderings about through 
the wilderness which was about forty years, and 
these you will read in the Bible itself, but now we 

129 



Bible Stories From the Old Testament 

will only tell abont what the people did when 
finally they came to the Promised Land. 

When they came near the Land of Canaan, for 
which they had been searching all these forty 
years, Moses called all the people together and 
taught them many things. He told them that in 
this new land where they were going they mnst 
never make any more golden calves or any other 
such idols to worship and that they must pray 
only to the trne God; and he told them in what 
part of Canaan each tribe should live, for you 
know there were so many of these Israelites that 
they were divided into twelve tribes or parties, 
each living by themselves in their tents and each 
tribe under a ruler of its own. 

Of course there were other people living in this 
land of Canaan. The Israelites did not know 
what kind of people these might be so Moses sent 
some men into the country to look about and to 
come back and tell him. The men went and 
when they returned they said it was a most beau- 
tiful land ^'flowing with milk and honey*' which 
meant that there was plenty to eat and drink; 

130 



The Promised Land 

but, they said, there were some very large men 
living there, men who were almost as large as 
giants, and when they said that the Israelites were 
afraid and did not want to go on for fear these 
giants would come out and fight with them. There 
were two men, however, who were braver than 
the others. Their names were Joshua and Caleb, 
and they said that they believed with God's 
help they could march into the land of Canaan 
and fight their way through so they could make 
homes for themselves to live in. 

Now, of course, by this time Moses was getting 
to be a very old man, over one hundred years of 
age, and he knew that he could not lead the Israel- 
ites very much longer. When he saw that Joshua 
was a brave man he made him leader of the Israel- 
ites and told Joshua to lead them on into Canaan. 

Then Moses talked to the people for the last 
time. He read the Ten Commandments to them 
and begged them to be good and not to worship 
golden calves or other idols and to try to obey 
the laws which he had given them. Then he went 
up all alone into a lonely mountain called Nebo 

131 



Bible Stories From the Old Testament 

where he could look out upon the Promised Land, 
and there, the stories say, Moses died and no one 
ever knew where he was buried. 



132 






■^ - ^^*^ 



>' ^^, ->' 





WILDE'S BIBLE PICTURES 



MOSES VIEWIA^G THE PROMISED LAND 
Page 132 



JOSHUA, THE WAEKIOE 

Joshua I; V 

WT HEN Moses had died, God spoke to Joshua, 
^ ^ the brave warrior who had gone into the 
land of the Philistines to see what was there and 
said: ^^ Moses, my servant, is dead; now therefore 
arise, go over this Jordan, thou and all this peo- 
ple, unto the land which I do give them, even to 
the Children of Israel." 

He told Joshua that as He had been with Moses 
so He would be with him. ^^I will not fail thee, 
nor forsake thee," He said. **Only be strong 
and very courageous," God told Joshua, ^^be not 
afraid, neither be thou dismayed, for the Lord 
thy God is with thee whithersoever thou goest." 

So Joshua was filled with courage and he called 
the officers to him and told them to command the 
people to prepare quantities of victuals, for 



Bible Stories From the Old Testament 

within three days they were going to pass over 
the Jordan Eiver which lay between them and the 
Promised Land, and take possession of the land 
which God had given them. 

The people were ready to obey Joshua for they 
saw that he was brave and conrageons, and they 
said, **As we obeyed Moses in all things, so will 
we hearken nnto thee; only the Lord thy God be 
with thee as He was with Moses. ' ' They told him 
that any man who rebelled against his commands 
should be put to death, and they said to him, **Be 
strong and of good courage." 

So Joshua put on his armor, breastplate and 
helmet of brass, and all the people followed him 
to the Jordan. When they had reached the Eiver 
Jordan they found that it had overflowed all its 
banks and there seemed no way to cross. But 
Joshua told the priests to take the ark which held 
the covenant of God in their hands and go and 
step into the river and that when they did so the 
waters would part and they could all pass over 
on dry land. 

The priests did as they were told and when 

134 



Joshua, the Warrior 

they came to the river with the ark in their hands 
and stepped into the waters, sure enough, says 
the story, the waters parted and all the Israelites 
passed over on dry land. When they were all 
safely over the waters returned and overflowed 
their banks again, and all the people were afraid 
Joshua as they had been of Moses when he made 
the Eed Sea to part its waters so they could pass 
over dry shod. 

One day Joshua stood by the walls of Jericho, 
a city with a high wall around it. There was a 
great army inside that wall and Joshua wanted 
them to come out and fight, but they would not 
and no one could get in, so Joshua stood there 
wondering how he could get them to fight. Of 
a sudden he looked up and there was a man stand- 
ing near him with a drawn sword, and the man 
had not been there a moment before, so Joshua 
knew he must be an angel. Joshua went up to 
him and said, ^*Art thou for us or for our ad- 
versaries?'^ 

The man answered, ^^Nay ; but as captain of the 
host of the Lord am I now come. ' ' Then Joshua 

135 



Bible S^tories From the Old Testament 

fell on Ms face to tlie earth and worshipped, for 
he knew it was an angel of God. He said to the 
angel, ^^What saith my lord to his servant?'' And 
the angel said, ^^ Loose thy shoe from off thy foot, 
for the place whereon thou standest is holy 
ground.'' And Joshua did so. 

Then the angel of the Lord told Joshua that 
God wanted him to have the city of Jericho and 
' he told Joshua how to take it. This is what hap- 
' p^ned. Early the next morning seven priests in 
long flowing robes, each carrying a trumpet made 
of Of ram's horn, marched slowly up to the walls 
of the city. Behind them came men bearing the 
ark, and behind these came all the army, their 
brass helmets and breastplates sparkling in the 
morning sun and their spears shining. They 
marched very quietly until the priests were right 
before the gates of the city, Then the priests 
gave a long clear blast upon their trumpets. The 
soldiers spoke not a word nor made a sound, and 
then they all marched quietly back to their tents. 
The next day and the next they did the same 
thing, until for six days they had marched silently 

136 



Joshua, tlie Warrior 

around the walls of Jericho. On the seventh day 
JTist as the priests blew upon their trumpets all 
the soldiers gave a great shout and the walls of 
the city fell. Then Joshua's soldiers rushed iq 
and made all the people prisoners. 



J 37 



THE MOTHER WHO TALKED WITH 
ANGELS 

Judges XIII :l-8 

ril HEEE are many beautiful stories in the Bible 
*■ about people who talked with the angels. Yon 
remember how the angels came to Abraham when 
he was sitting in the door of his tent one hot day, 
to tell him of the little son who would come to 
him and Sarah, do you not? 

Now we have the story of an angel who came 
to tell an Israelite mother that a child would come 
to her. He told her that she should have a little 
child and that she must drink no wine nor strong 
drink nor eat anything that was not good and 
wholesome, so she might have a strong and beau- 
tiful child, for that child, the angel told her, 
should be a child of God and should be a great man 
and help to deliver the Israelites out of the hand 
of the Philistines. 

138 




WILDE'S BIBLE PICTURES 



THE ANGEL APPEAEING BEFORE JOSHUA 

Page 135 



The Mother Who Talked with Angels 

The woman was very glad and she went and 
told her husband, whose name was Manoah, what 
the angel had said to her. *^A man of God came 
to me/' she said, >^and his countenance was like 
the countenance of an angel of God. And he said, 
^ Drink no wine nor strong drink, neither eat any 
unclean thing, for the sake of the child.' " And 
tjie little child came and they called him Samson, 
meaning strength. 



139 



SAMSON, THE MIGHTY 

Judges XVI:1-31 

rpHE Israelites, as we have said, had to fight 
^ many battles with the people who lived in the 
Land of Canaan, but the worst battles of all were 
fought with the Philistines, a tribe of people who 
lived along the coast of the Mediterranean Sea. 
These people were always fighting and were 
stronger than the Israelites. Now the child who 
was named Samson had grown to be a man and 
he was a great fighter and very strong. The 
Bible tells many wonderful stories of what Sam- 
son, in his great strength did. One of them is that 
he took the jaw bone of an ass and went out 
and rushed upon an army of Philistines and 
slashed at them right and left until he had slain a 
thousand men. 

Another story says that Samson went one time 

140 



Samson, the Mighty 

to a town called Gaza and the Philistines said that 
when he was asleep they would capture him. But 
Samson rose up in the night and took off the 
gates of the city and the posts with them and 
put them on his shoulders and carried them up 
to the top of the hill. 

Samson loved a Philistine woman named De- 
lilah, and the Philistines told Delilah to find out 
in some way what made Samson so strong and in 
w^hat part of his body his great strength lay, for 
they were afraid of him and thought if they could 
find out where his strength lay they might take it 
away from him. So Delilah asked him : ^ ^ Tell me, 
I pray thee, wherein thy great strength lieth," 
and she asked him what could be done to him that 
would take away his strength, but Samson for a 
long time would not tell her. 

Now if Delilah had been a good woman 
she would not have tried to coax Samson to tell 
her the secret of his strength so she could tell the 
Philistines, but she was not a good woman. She 
kept on asking and asking Samson and finally he 
told her that his great strength lay in his hair 

141 



Bible Stories From the Old Testament 

and that if his hair should be cut off he would not 
then be stronger than any other man. When he 
was asleep one time, Delilah, wicked Delilah, cut 
off all his hair. Then she sent for the Philistines 
and they came and took him and put out his eyes 
and brought him down to the city of Gaza and 
bound him with fetters of grass. And then the 
Philistines, because they were so glad to have 
made a prisoner of the mighty Samson, had a 
great feast, and while they were singing and 
laughing at the feast some one said, *'Let us send 
for Samson and make sport of him.'' So they 
did and the blind Samson was led in. Samson 
said to the lad that was leading him, ^^Let me feel 
the pillars whereupon the house standeth, that I 
may lean upon them." 

Now the house was full of men and women and 
all the lords of Philistia were there, and there 
were above three thousand men and women look- 
ing to see Samson make sport for them. Then 
Samson prayed to God and begged Him to give 
him his great strength just once more so he could 
punish the Philistines for having put out his eyes 

142 



Samson, the Mighty 

and made him blind. And God did. Samson 
pushed at the pillars upon which the house stood 
and the house came down and killed all the peopte 
that were in it and Samson with them. 



143 



EUTH 

Ruth I: II: III: IV 

tN the Land of Canaan there lived a woman 
-■• named Naomi who had two sons. Her hus- 
band died and the two sons married. One of 
them married a girl named Ruth. Finally both 
of Naomi's sons died and there came a famine 
in the land and there was no bread to eat. 

Naomi thought she would go into another land 
called Bethlehem where there was bread. She 
told her two daughters-in-law that they had bet- 
ter return to their mothers' homes where there 
was plenty to eat, and she asked God to be good 
to them on their journey even as they had been 
good to her sons and her. She kissed them and 
both of her daughters-in-law wept, for they loved 
Naomi, their husbands' mother, very much and 
they did not like to think of her taking this long 

144 



Euth 

journey without them. They were sorry for her 
and told her they did not want to leave her. 

But Naomi told them that she was going to 
travel a long way and she could do nothing for 
them. **I am an old woman," she said, **and I 
can not help you. You had better go back to the 
land of your own mothers." Opah kissed her 
mother-in-law with tears in her eyes and went 
away to her mother's home, but Euth would not 
go. Naomi said, ** Behold, thy sister-in-law is 
gone back unto her own people. Eeturn thou after 
her." But Euth loved Naomi and was sorry for 
her, and she said, ^ ^ Entreat me not to leave thee ; 
for whither thou goest I will go ; and whither thou 
lodgest I will lodge ; thy people shall be my people 
and thy God my God. I will not leave thee nor 
foresake thee." 

So when Naomi saw that Euth was determined 
not to leave her she no longer urged her, and they 
went together a long, long journey of many weary 
miles to the little town of Bethlehem. It must 
have been a very hot and tiresome walk and they 
had often to stop and rest by the way. 

145 



Bible Stories From the Old Testament 

It was the time of barley harvest when they got 
to Bethlehem and all the people were in the fields, 
the men reaping the grain and women following 
after, gleaning. 

There was a man, a kinsman of Naomi, named 
Boaz, who was very rich, and he had a great field 
of barley which they called com. There were 
many men in the field cutting down the barley 
with sickles and women and men were gathering 
it in their arms into bundles. 

It was the custom of that land to let the poor 
people follow after the gleaners in the field and 
gather up the com that was left. Euth asked 
Naomi to let her go into the field and glean that 
they might have bread, and Naomi said, ' ' Go, my 
daughter.'* So Ruth went out into the field and 
followed after the gleaners, gathering the barley 
that was dropped, while Naomi staid in the 
little house where they went to live. 

When Boaz, the rich owner of the fields came to 
where the men were gleaning he said, * * The Lord 
be with you. ' * And they all looked up from their 
work and answered, ''The Lord bless thee," which 

146 



Euth 

was their form of greeting. Then Boaz saw Ruth 
and asked the reapers who she was. They told 
him it was the maiden who had come home with 
Naomi to live, and that she had asked them to let 
her glean and gather after the reapers among the 
sheaves. 

Boaz was very kind and told Ruth to stay in 
his fields all the time and not go to other fields. 
He told his reapers to let some barley fall on pur- 
pose for her, and he told Ruth when she was 
thirsty to go and drink from the water jug that 
belonged to his gleaners and to come and eat with 
them. Ruth was glad and thankful and asked him 
why he was so good to her. He said it was be- 
cause she had left her own home and people where 
food was plenty to come and live with Naomi who 
was lonely and old and poor. 

Ruth gleaned in the fields all day and when 
she went home at night Naomi was surprised to 
see how large a sheaf of barley she had and asked 
her where she had been. Ruth told her that she 
had been in the fields of their rich kinsman, Boaz, 

147 



Bible Stories From the Old Testament 

and Naomi thanked Grod that they had found so 
kind a friend. 

Afterward Boaz made Euth his wife and she 
no longer had to glean barley from the fields. 
They had a little child and Naomi was so very, 
very glad that she took all the care of it and 
nnrsed it and all the women told her how blessed 
she had been in having a daughter-in-law like 
Euth, **Who loveth thee,'* they said, ''and who is 
better to thee than seven sons.'' And they told 
her what a comfort the baby would be to her in 
her old age. The baby grew to be a man and was 
the great-grandfather of David who killed the 
giant, Goliath, and who was afterward a great 
king. 



148 



SAMUEL, THE LITTLE PEOPHET 

/ Samuel 2; 3; 4 

A PEOPHET, you know, was one who spoke 
-^"^ to the people for God telling God's message 
for them. Here is the story of a little boy who 
was a prophet, one whom God chose to help Him 
in His work. 

Among the Hebrew women was one whose name 
was Hannah and Hannah had no little children. 
Her heart was very sad and lonely because of this 
and she looked with longing eyes at the mothers 
who had little children sitting on their laps and 
playing about them. Hannah put her face in her 
hands and wept and prayed to God, telling him 
how very sorrowful and lonely she was. She 
said to God that if he would give her a little son 
she would give him back to God and let him work 
for Him all the days of his life. And God heard 

149 



Bible Stories From the Old Testament 

Hamiah's prayer and gave her a child, a little 
boy, and she called his name Samuel. 

So Hannah was very, very glad and she told 
SamuePs father what she had promised and he 
told her to do whatever seemed good. Hannah 
took care of the little boy until he was old enough 
to go away from home and then she took him up 
to the Tabernacle where was the beautiful ark 
in which were the stones upon which the Ten Com- 
mandments were written, and said to the High 
Priest, Eli, who took care of the Temple, that she 
had brought her little son Samuel, to loan him to 
the Lord as long as he lived. For she knew that 
in the Temple Samuel would have work to do in 
caring for the things that were God's, and that 
Eli would teach him to be a good and useful 
man. 

Hannah was so glad and thankful that she had 
this little son to give to God that she made a 
beautiful song all about how proud and glad she 
was and what wonderful things Samuel would do. 

She went up to the Tabernacle every year to 
see little Samuel and each time she took him a 

150 



Samuel, the Little Prophet 

coat that she had made for him herself. We 
can imagine how very proud and thankful she 
must have been to see him growing to be a good 
boy and obedient to what he knew God wanted him 
to do, and if sometimes her heart was lonely for 
the little boy that she would have liked to keep 
with her she was always glad that she had had 
him to give to God. 

Of course little Samuel must have been lonely 
at first in the strange Temple with no one but 
the good old priest Eli, but Eli was always kind 
to him and loved him. He loved him all the more 
because his own sons were wicked men and would 
not do as he wanted them to nor listen to the 
voice of God. 

One night when Samuel and Eli had both laid 
down to sleep the little boy suddenly thought he 
heard some one calling him and he started up and 
ran in to Eli and said, **Here am I.'' For he 
thought Eli had called him. But Eli said, **I 
called not; lie down again.'' And Samuel went 
back and laid down. 

Presently, however, he heard the voice again 

151 



Bible Stories From the Old Testament 

calling, ''Samuel!" And Samuel went a second 
time to Eli and said, ''Here am I, for thou didst 
call me." But Eli answered, "I called not, my 
son. Lie down again." 

But the voice called Samuel a third time and 
when Samuel came to Eli a third time saying he 
had been called, Eli thought it must be the voice 
of God calling Samuel; so he told Samuel to go 
and lie down again but if he heard the voice again 
to answer and say, ' ' Speak, Lord, for thy servant 
heareth. ' ' 

The voice did call again and Samuel answered 
as Eli had told him. Then he thought he heard 
the voice telling him that God would judge Eli 
and Eli's house because his sons were wicked. 

Li the morning Samuel went about his duties as 
usual and was almost afraid to t^ell Eli what he 
had heard. By and by, however, Eli called Sam- 
uel to him and asked him what the Lord had said ; 
so Samuel told him and Eli said, "It is the Lord! 
Let him do what seemeth to Him good." After 
this, when Samuel grew up he was called a 
prophet because he could tell people the things 

152 



Samuel, the Little Prophet 

that were going to happen to them, and the people 
believed that God spoke directly to him. The 
Israelites often came to ask Samuel what was 
going to happen to them and what they should do. 

One time when Samuel had grown to be a man 
and Eli was very old, almost a hundred years old, 
there was a great battle between the Philistines 
and Israelites, and the Israelites were beaten. 
When the Israelites came together at night in 
their tents after the battle, those of them that 
were not killed, the elders said, **Let us fetch 
the ark of the Lord out of Shiloh to us, that when 
it Cometh among us it may save us out of the 
hand of our enemies.'' 

So they sent to Shiloh for the ark and when it 
was brought they rejoiced and sang and shouted 
because they thought now that the ark was with 
them the Philistines could not harm them. And 
Eli's three sons, Eli, Hophni and Phineas were 
with them. 

When the Philistines heard the Israelites shout- 
ing and singing and rejoicing in their camp they 
questioned among themselves and said, **What 

153 



Bible Stories From the Old Testament 

meaneth the noise of this great shout in the camp 
of the Hebrews ? * ' And when they understood that 
the ark of the Lord had been brought into the 
camp of the Hebrews they were afraid and said, 
^*Woe unto ns!^' Then the captains said to 
their men, ^^Be strong and quit yourselves like 
men or the Hebrews will conquer you and make 
slaves of you. Quit yourselves like men and 
fight!'' Then the Philistines fought and Israel 
was beaten again and the ark was taken away 
from them by the Philistines and thirty thousand 
Hebrews were slain. The Israelites were afraid 
for their lives and fled to their tents. And 
amongst those that were killed were Eli's two 
sons. 

Eli, the old priest was sitting by the gates of 
the temple all during the battle, trembling for 
fear the Philistines would take the ark and wait- 
ing for news of the battle. After the fight was 
over a man went running from the battle ground 
to the city which was some distance away. His 
clothes were all torn and earth was upon his head, 
which was a sign that he was a bearer of bad news. 

154 



Samuel, the Little Prophet 

When he came to the city where Eli waited by the 
gates and told the news of the battle and of the 
taking of the ark which held the covenant, all 
the city cried out. When Eli heard the noise 
of the crying he said, ^^What meaneth the noise 
of this tumult?'^ And the man came running to 
him and told him. Eli was ninety-eight years 
old and his eyes were dim and he could not see, 
and when the messenger told him that two of 
his sons were killed in the battle and the ark of 
God taken by the Philistines, Eli fell from off 
the seat backward by the side of the gate and his 
neck broke and he died. Eli had been a judge 
of Israel for forty years. 

After Eli died Samuel was chosen to be judge 
of Israel and he taught the people how to be 
good and to live right for many years. Samuel 
was always obedient to the voice of God speak- 
ing in his heart and as he had lived in the Temple 
of the Lord when he was a child, so he lived with 
God all his life and was ever ready to answer, 
just as he had when a little child, ** Speak, Lord, 
for thy servant heareth." 

155 



KING SAUL 

/ Samuel XII:l-5; XV :24'35 

T^rHILE Samuel was still alive and judge 
* ^ over Israel the Israelites wanted him to 
choose a king to rule over them as the people of 
other countries had. Samuel tried to show them 
that they would not be so well off with a king as 
they had been with a judge to rule them, and that 
a king would take their sons away to drive his 
chariots and take care of his horses, and their 
daughters to be his servants ; he would take away 
their vineyards and fields and a great many of 
their sheep. 

But the people would not listen to him and 
insisted that Samuel should choose a king who 
would lead them in their battles. So finally Sam- 
uel chose a man called Saul and anointed him 
with oil and told him he was chosen king of the 
Israelites. 

Saul was a great man in stature, taller than 
any other man and very strong, and Samuel 

156 



King Saul 

brought Saul before the people and showed them 
the man whom he had chosen to be their king 
and said: ** Behold I this is the king chosen for 
you." And the people were proud of their new 
king and were glad. 

Saul remained king of Israel for a great many 
years and led his people into many battles, but 
he did not always listen for the voice of God 
nor to SamuePs warnings and this brought him 
into much trouble. Samuel listened always for 
God's voice and he told Saul when he thought 
he was doing wrong, but Saul would not listen 
and there were a great many bitter fights between 
the Children of Israel and the Philistines. Fi- 
nally Saul went to Samuel and told him he was 
afraid he and his people had offended God. He 
asked Samuel if he thought God would forgive 
him if he offered Him a sacrifice. Then Samuel 
said one of the most beautiful and truest things 
that ever was said : 

'*Hath the Lord so great delight," he said, '*in 
burnt offerings as in obedience? Behold, it is 
better to obey than to sacrifice." 

157 



Bible Stories From the Old Testament 

Saul knew he had done wrong and was sorry 
and begged Samuel to forgive him. But never- 
theless he kept on doing things that were wrong 
until his conscience troubled him very much. He 
grew very sorrowful and melancholy at times 
and would sit for hours and hours without speak- 
ing or laughing. His servants and his son Jona- 
than and all the members of his household tried 
everything they could think of to cure him. They 
tried medicines and they sent for witches (which 
people in those days believed in) , but nothing did 
any good. Finally one of his men bethought him 
of a way the priests in another country had of 
curing people whose hearts were heavy or whose 
minds were troubled by what they had done. This 
was to bring in players on different instruments 
of music, harps and horns and reed instruments, 
also singers of sweet songs. So they sent out 
to all the surrounding country for the players 
of instruments and singers of songs to come and 
play and sing to Saul when he was unhappy. 

158 



DAVID, THE SHEPHERD'S BOY 

/ Samuel XVI:1-14 

T7^ IN ALLY Samuel would not go to Saul any 
"*■ more or try to tell Mm what lie ought to do, 
but he mourned and mourned for him because he 
knew that the king was doing wrong. 

You remember how, ever since Samuel was 
a little boy Grod had spoken to him, so now 
He told Samuel not to mourn for Saul any longer, 
but to go down into Bethlehem where lived a 
man named Jesse who had many sons, for God 
had chosen one of these sons to be king after 
Saul. And God told Samuel to take a cruse of oil 
with him to anoint the chosen one; for it was a 
custom of their land to anoint with oil any one 
who was chosen to work for the Lord or to be 
king. Samuel said, ^^ How can I? For if Saul 
hear it he will kill me. ' ' But God told Samuel He 
would take care of him and that he was to go. 

159 



Bible Stories From the Old Testament 

So the white haired old prophet immediately 
obeyed as he always had. He wrapped his long, 
loose garments such as prophets wore about 
him, took a queer looking and oddly shapen horn 
in which was the oil that priests used in anoint- 
ing those whom the Lord had chosen, went down 
into Bethlehem and came to the house of Jesse 
who was a shepherd. When he had told his 
errand Jesse called his sons, seven big, stalwart 
fellows, and they stood before Samuel. When 
Samuel saw one of them who was taller and 
sturdier than the others he said, *^ Surely this is 
the one the Lord hath chosen.'' But the Lord told 
Samuel not to choose this one and that he must 
never judge a man by his outward appearance 
for God never did. ^^Man," said the Lord, *4ook- 
eth on the outward appearance but the Lord 
looketh on the heart." 

Then, one by one, they all passed before Sam- 
uel, but the voice of God did not tell Samuel that 
any of these was the chosen one, so Samuel said 
unto Jesse, **The Lord hath not chosen these," 
and he asked, **are here all thy children!" 

160 



David, The Shepherd Boy 

Jesse said, ^' There remaineth but the young- 
est, and behold he keepeth the sheep. ' ' For Jesse 
could not believe that it was the youngest of all 
Ms sons that was chosen. But Samuel told Jesse 
to send for this youngest son and Jesse did. 

Then David came in from the fields where he 
had been with the sheep, wondering no doubt 
who could have sent for him and feeling a little 
bit awed and shy at sight of the old white haired 
priest who was waiting for him. David was 
ruddy and fair and beautiful to look at and Sam- 
uel's old heart warmed at sight of the youth and 
he knew at once that here was the one chosen of 
the Lord. 

Immediately when David came in the Lord 
spoke to Samuel and said, *^ Arise and anoint 
him: for this is he.'' So Samuel took the horn 
of oil which he had brought with him and anointed 
him there before his seven brothers and his father, 
and the spirit of the Lord came upon David 
and he knew that he was chosen to do a great 
work. 



161 



Y 



DAVID, THE HAEPIST 

I Samuel XVI:14-23 

OU will remember how troubled and miser- 
able King Saul was at this time because he 
was afraid he had done so many wicked things 
that God would not forgive himf And you re- 
member that his men and his son Jonathan, who 
was a fine young prince of about the same age 
as David, had been sending out through the coun- 
try for singers and musicians to come and play 
and sing to him, thinking this would ease his 
mind and make him happy? 

Well, one day one of his servants told Saul 
that he had heard of a young man, a shepherd 
boy, youngest son of a farmer in Bethlehem, 
named Jesse, who was a very fine harpist, and 
Saul commanded them to go at once to Jesse and 
get this young man harpist and bring him back. 

You can imagine that Jesse and David and 
all the other brothers must have been very much 
surprised to have this message from the king. 

162 



Da\dd, the Harpist 

They were probably excited, too, over so great an 
event as David's going to the palace to play be- 
fore the king. Jesse was very likely anxions and 
not a little worried too, for he knew that the 
prophet Samnel's ^dsit and the anointing of 
David had meant that David must do whatever 
the Lord wonld call him to do. He was afraid 
that Sanl might have heard of Samuel's visit and 
the choosing of David, and that some danger 
might threaten his youngest son. 

But nevertheless, he knew David must obey the 
summons of the king, so he loaded an ass with 
presents of bread and wine and meat for the king 
and sent them to the king by David. 

You will remember that David was straight 
and slender, fair haired, and ruddy cheeked, 
with splendid round limbs and clear, honest 
eyes. He was quite probably a bit excited 
when he went in to play before the sick king. 
No doubt his cheeks were flushed and his eyes 
sparkled. But he stood his harp up before the 
king and began to play, and straightway the king 
felt better. David, you know, had lived all his 

163 



Bible Stories From the Old Testament 

boy life out upon the fields and hills taking care 
of sheep, sleeping at night beneath the starry 
sky and waking early in the morning while the 
dew still sparkled in the grass. 

He had had to be very brave and unafraid be- 
cause there were wild beasts in the forests and 
amongst the rocks and caves of the mountains, 
and he had had to fight off lions and other ani- 
m'als, and sometimes to rescue little lambs from 
them. 

His music, therefore, would be very sweet, full 
of bird calls and the sound of little brooks curl- 
ing over stones, of the wind whispering at night 
through the forest, and of rain pattering on 
leaves; and also it would have in it chords of 
courage and strength. At any rate, there was 
some wonderful soothing power in David *s music 
which drove the bad thoughts out of SauPs mind 
and made him well. Then Saul loved David great- 
ly and said he should be his armour-bearer. And 
when Saul was quite well again, David went back 
to his father 's farm in Bethlehem and to the care 
of the sheep. 

164 



DAVID AND GOLIATH 

I Samuel XVII 

^\7' OU remember we said that the Philis- 
"^ tines were great fighters. There are many- 
Hebrew stories abont the wonderful things they 
did and how large and powerful their men were. 

Among them was one more powerful, taller 
and stronger than any other and more of a 
fighter. His name was Goliath, and he was such 
a giant that every one was afraid of him. 

Goliath wore upon his head a helmet of brass 
and upon his body a coat of mail, a garment made 
of brass which weighed ever so many pounds. 
Upon his legs he wore greaves of brass which 
were like leggings, and a breast plate of brass be- 
tween his shoulders. He carried an enormous 
spear with a great iron head upon it, and another 
man went before him carrying a shield to keep 
him from being struck by the arrows of his ene- 
mies. 

165 



Bible Stories From the Old Testament 

No one had ever been able to harm this great 
giant with all his armour of metal, and of course 
Saul and all the armies of the Israelites were 
terribly afraid of him, for he came to their camp 
day after day and dared them to come out and 
fight him. He told them to choose any man 
amongst them to fight against him and if the 
Israelite could kill him the Philistines would be 
the slaves of the Israelites, but if he should kill 
the Israelite then the Israelites must be the 
slaves of the Philistines. 

Of course no one dared to fight against him for 
they were sure their man would be killed, and the 
Israelites did not want to become the slaves of 
the Philistines. 

Now you will remember that David who had 
been anointed by Samuel and who had been sent 
for to play before the king, had seven brothers. 
Three of these, the three eldest, went into Saul's 
armies and fought against the Philistines, but the 
rest of them staid at home, and David took care 
of the sheep just the same as he had before he 
went to the palace to play for the king. 

166 



David and Goliath 

One day David ^s father told him to take some 
loaves of bread and some parched corn for his 
brothers, and some cheese for tJie captain, and 
to go out to where the armies were and see how 
his brothers were and then to come back and tell 
him. 

David arrived at the battlefield jn,st as the 
Israelites were preparing for battle with the Phil- 
istines. He left his servants with the presents 
his father had sent at the outskirts of the battle 
ground. Then he ran down to where the soldiers 
were. He easily found his brothers and talked 
with them while they were waiting for the battle 
to begin. He could hear all about him the shout- 
ings and war cries of the different tribes. He could 
see their banners waving and doubtless his blood 
ran swift with excitement. 

While he was talking with them he saw a most 
appalling sight. Over in Philistiae, the country 
just across a little river against which the Is- 
raelites were fighting, was suddenly a great 
shouting, a running about of soldiers, waving of 
banners and glint of spears in the sun. 

167 



Bible Stories From tlie Old Testament 

David looked and thought he saw a man being 
borne aloft on something. He looked again and 
saw that it was a man taller and larger than all 
the other men about him, larger even than the 
big strong man who carried the shield before 
him, towering away over all the others and 
covered with a coat of mail, iron greaves upon 
his legs, and a big brass helmet which shone in 
the sun upon his head. David was amazed, and 
turning to his brothers asked them who it was. 

The Israelites when they saw this terrible sight 
were all frightened and began to run away. 
David's brothers said: ^'It is the giant Goliath, 
David. It is the dreaded giant." They told him 
how the giant threatened Israel and dared them 
to come and fight and how none dared fight him. 
They told him also that if any man would kill 
Goliath, to him Saul would give great riches, 
land, flocks and camels, and also his daughter 
for a wife. 

Then David, the shepherd boy who had not been 
afraid to sleep on the mountain sides alone with 
his sheep, where were lions and wild beasts of 

168 



David and Goliath 

all sorts; David, who had been anointed by the 
prophet Samuel as a servant of the Lord, spoke 
to them about him and asked them to tell him 
agiain what would be done to the man who should 
kill the giant. 

*^What shall be done to the man that killeth 
this Philistine,^' he said, *^and taketh away the 
reproach from Israel? '^ For to him it seemed as 
if the men of Saul's armies had shown cowardice 
in being afraid of the giant. 

His brothers, who stood near, were angry at 
his seeming blame of Israel, and one of them, 
Eliab, spoke sharply to him and said: 

^^Why camest thou down hither, and with 
whom hast thou left those few sheep in the wil- 
derness? I know thy pride and the naughtiness 
of thy heart; for thou art come down that thou 
mightest see the battle." 

But David answered him very quietly. **What 
have I done now? Is there not a cause?" 

There was something so strange about his 
face, something so deep and calm about his voice 
that his brothers were almost afraid. They re- 

169 



Bible Stories From the Old Testament 

membered the solemn day on their father's farm 
when the old white-haired prophet had anointed 
the kneeling David and said that he was set apart 
and called by God to do some great and wonder- 
ful work, and they drew back and said no more 
to him. 

Then David turned to the men about him and 
asked them questions until they saw that he was 
thinking of going into battle with the Philistine 
himself. Some of them ran and told King Saul, 
who was able to lead his armies once more, what 
the shepherd boy had said and Saul sent for 
David. 

When David came before Saul he looked so 
slender, so bright and young that Saul felt ten- 
der toward him in his heart and could not 
think of David ^s putting himself in the way of 
this dreadful giant, although he did not recognize 
him as the same shepherd boy who had played 
music to him when he was ill. But David was 
very brave and fearless, for he felt sure that 
<xod was with him. 

**Let no man's heart, fail because of the giant/' 

170 



David and Goliath 

he said, ' ^ thy servant will go and fight the Philis- 
tine/^ 

^'But," said Saul, ''thou art not ahle to go 
against this Philistine to fight with him, for thou 
art but a youth and he a man of war from his 
youth up.'' 

Then David told Saul that he had kept his 
father's sheep and that once a lion and once a 
bear had come and taken a lamb out of the flock 
and that he had killed them both. And he said: 
' ' The Lord that hath delivered me out of the paw 
of the lion and out of the paw of the bear will 
deliver me out of the hand of the Philistine." 
So Saul said to David, ' ' Go, and the Lord be with 
thee." 

Then Saul put his armour on David, for in 
those days when men went out to battle they cov- 
ered themselves with clothing of metal through 
which no arrows could pierce. Saul put his 
helmet on David's head and gave him his sword. 
But when David tried to move he found the 
armour so heavy he could not walk and he did 
not know how to handle it, so he took it all off 

171 



Bible Stories From the Old Testament 

saying to Saul, **I can not go with these on, for I 
have not tried them." 

You can imagine what great excitement there 
must have been in the two armies. On one side 
were the Philistines all shouting, laughing and 
mocking at the Israelites because they dared not 
fight the champion of Philistia. There was their 
great giant himself striding back and forth, his 
helmet and brass and steel all shining and gleam- 
ing in the sunlight until he looked like a giant 
iron man whom nothing could touch or harm. 

And the giant waved his iron spear and shouted 
at the Israelites as he had been shouting for days. 
**Why are ye come out to set your battle in ar- 
ray? Am I not a Philistine and ye servants of 
Saul? Choose you a man for you and let him come 
down to me. If he be able to kill me then we will be 
your servants, but if I kill him then shall ye be 
our servants and serve us." And he shouted, 
* * I defy the armies of Israel this day. Give me a 
man that we may fight together." And all the 
Philistines shouted and mocked and jeered at 
Israel, waving their banners and spears and 

172 



David and Goliath 

sounding tJieir terrible war cry until the blood of 
the Israelites ran cold and they shivered. 

Then, from out of the ranks of the Israelite 
soldiers came a man and he went toward the 
giant. He was young and slender, but a very boy 
in size. He wore no armour, no helmet upon his 
head, no brass plate upon his breast, no greaves 
upon his legs, carried no spear, no sword was in 
his hand. His breast was bare and his legs naked. 
Only a cloth was girded about his loins. He held 
only a shepherd's staff in his hands and a woven 
sling with five ground pebbles in the bag. His 
young face was very grave and upon it was a 
look that made all the soldiers, even King Saul 
himself, draw back from him as he passed, as if 
the ground he trod upon were holy ground — 
as if the spirit of God himself shone from his 
face. 

Saul watched him. Jonathan watched him — all 
Israel's soldiers watched him and no man spoke. 
It seemed so hopeless a thing — this stripling lad 
against yonder armoured giant, and if he failed — 
if he failed, Philistia would claim them as slaves. 

173 



Bible Stories From the Old Testament 

Slowly, steadily, David advanced. Then the 
Philistines saw him coming and stood still in 
amazement. What was this naked boy coming 
toward them for? They could not believe he 
was coming to fight their champion. They hardly 
knew whether to laugh or be angry. They thought 
the Israelites must be making sport of them. Then 
Goliath saw him and was angry and cursed, 

•'Am I a dog," he said, ''that thou comest to 
me with staves ? Come to me, and I will give thy 
flesh to the fowls of the air and the beasts of the 
field." 

David threw back his head and the white light 
of God grew stronger upon his face, but in the 
hearts of Saul and Prince JonatJian watching him, 
and in the hearts of his brothers, was a great 
fear, for surely he would fail. And there was an 
awful silence in both armies watching. 

Then David drew near a little stream which 
separated Philistia from Israel, which separated 
the army of the Philistines from the armies of 
tJie Israelites. The stream was almost dry and 
he stepped from stone to stone, from one dry 

174 



David and Goliath 

place to another fearlessly, and the silence grew 
deeper. Even the spear points were motionless 
in the sun. Every man in both armies said in his 
heart, '*Yea, the giant will kill him and throw 
his flesh to the beasts and we shall be their 
slaves." But they stood motionless and watched 
with fascinated eyes. 

Then they heard David answering the giant, 
his clear, sweet voice ringing out upon the aii. 
**Thou comest to me with a spear,'' he said, 
*'and with a shield; but I come to thee in the 
name of the Lord of Hosts, the God of the 
armies of Israel whom thou has defied. This 
day the Lord will deliver thee into my hand," 
he cried, *^and I will smite thee and take thy 
head from off thee, and I will give the carcasses 
of the hosts of the Philistines this day unto the 
fowls of the air and the wild beasts of the earth, 
that all may know there is a God in Israel." 

He poised himself for an instant and then he 
flung back his head and cried out, **And all this 
assembly shall know that the Lord saveth not with 
sword and spear; for the battle is the Lord's." 

170 



Bible Stories From the Old Testament 

Then the watching armies saw him spring for- 
ward, saw the Philistine with sword and spear 
rush to meet him, saw the sling in David *s hand 
whizz round and round his head — they heard the 
giant scream — almost bellow; saw him stagger, 
whirl — drop! Scattering stones and sand as he 
fell! 

Then, before either army could recover from 
the shock, David sprang forward and stood upon 
the huge body of the giant. He took Goliath's 
own sword from his dead hands and cut off his 
head, holding it up that all the armies of Israel 
might see that their foe was dead, and in the 
forehead was the stone with which David the 
Shepherd boy had killed him. 

Then there were strange cries upon the air. 
The Israelites rushed forward shouting and 
cheering, waving their banners and their spears. 
The Philistines with fear and terror in their 
hearts because their champion was dead and the 
Israelites rushing upon them, scattered in confu- 
sion and fright. The Israelites chased them for 
many miles killing and wounding many, but 

176 



David and Goliath 

finally they turned and came back to the camp of 
the Philistines where they tore down their tents 
and took possession of all that had been left. 



177 



THE STOEY OF A BEAUTIFUL FRIEND- 
SHIP 

I Samuel XVIII; XIX; XX 

Q AUL, you remember, had not recognized 
*^ David as tlie harp player when he saw him 
go forth to fight Goliath. He had asked the cap- 
tain of the armies who the youth was, but the 
captain did not know. 

After David had killed the giant, the captain 
brought him before Saul who asked him whose son 
he was. 

**I am the son of thy servant Jesse, at Bethle- 
hem,'' replied David. 

While Saul was talking to David his own son 
Jonathan had been standing near by and Jona- 
than had felt a great love dawning in his heart 
for the shepherd boy. Saul was very fond of 
him too, and very proud of him, and grateful to 

178 



The Story of a Beautiful Friendship 

him for having slain the Philistine, and he took 
him into his own house to live. David and Jona- 
than loved each other very dearly, and Jonathan 
loved David so much that he took off his own rohe 
and girdle and put them on David, which was the 
sign of a covenant of most sacred friendship. So 
David no longer wore shepherd's garments, but 
rich and beautiful robes such as Jonathan did, 
and he was treated as a prince of the palace. 

Then Saul sent David out as leader of all the 
battles and David proved himself to be so great 
a leader that Saul grew jealous of him because 
the people praised him and were learning to love 
and trust him. When David came back from a 
great battle where many of the Philistines had 
been slain, the women and children came out play- 
ing upon musical instruments and threw flowers in 
his path and made a song for him which was like 
this : 

^ ^ Saul hath slain his thousands 
And David his tens of thousands. ' ' 



179 



Bible Stories From the Old Testament 

They said that David was a greater man than 
Saul. They sang : 

*'SaTil hath slain his thousands, 
And David his tens of thousands." 

Over and over again they sang: 

**Saul hath slain his thousands, 
And David his tens of thousands." 

This made Saul angry for he was afraid the 
people would come to love David more than they 
did him and would want liim to be their king. 
So Saul tried to kill David while he was playing 
the harp but he could not. Then he was afraid 
because he thought the Lord was watching over 
David. 

The people loved David more and more because 
he was kind and wise, and finally Saul deter- 
mined that David must be killed anyway. So he 
told Jonathan, his son, and David's dearly loved 
friend, that David must be killed. But Jonathan 

180 



The Story of a Beautiful Friendship 

loved David like a brother and could not bear 
to think of his being killed even though his own 
father and a king had said it must be so. And 
you know in those olden days the king had a right 
to say any one must be killed if he wanted to. 
So Jonathan went to David and told him that 
Saul, the king, wanted him killed, and begged him 
to hide. Then he went to his father and begged 
him not to kill David, reminding him how David 
had rid them of the dreadful giant Goliath. He 
told Saul that David had been a good servant 
to him, and implored him not to shed David's 
innocent blood. And Saul promised Jonathan 
that David should not die. So Jonathan was glad 
and happy and ran to tell David that his father 
had promised that he might live. 

Then there was another great battle in which 
David led and in which a great number of Philis- 
tines were killed. The people praised him again 
until Saul forgot his good promise to Jonathan 
and was angry and jealous and afraid the people 
would want David for their king. And again he 
threw a spear and tried to kill David while he was 

181 



Bible Stories From the Old Testament 

playing on his harp and then David ran out into 
the night. That night David's wife, Michal, who 
was Saul's daughter, you know, and Jonathan's 
sister, let him down out of the window by a rope 
and put an image in the bed with a pillow of goat's 
hair for a bolster and covered it with a cloth. So 
David escaped and went away to where Samuel 
was and told Samuel what Saul had done. After a 
while he grew so lonely and homesick for Jonathan 
that he went to Jonathan and asked him if he 
knew why his father, the king, was so angry with 
him, David, and why he wanted to kill him. But 
Jonathan did not know, and he told David that 
he did not believe that his father would do any- 
thing without telling him. David, however, had 
not so much faith in Saul. He told Jonathan that 
Saul did not want him, Jonathan, to know any- 
thing about it because he would grieve,' and that 
he knew Saul meant to kill him. 

You can imagine how sad and sorrowful they 
must have been for they loved one another dearly, 
and Jonathan particularly, knowing that his loved 
friend was in danger and that danger coming 

182 




VILDE'S BIBLE PICTURES 



DAVID' 



ESCAPE FROM SAUL 

Page 182 



The Story of a Beautiful FriendsMp 

from his own father, and a king, too. But kings 
sometimes have been very cruel. So Jonathan 
said to David: ** Whatever you want of me I will 
do even that — for you.*' And David told Jona- 
than that he was going away where the king could 
not find him. He begged Jonathan to be his true 
friend and to kill him himself rather than let 
him be killed by his enemies. Jonathan was ter- 
ribly grieved and told David that he would do 
anything in his power to help him and to remem- 
ber that he was David's loved friend and that he 
should love him no matter what happened. That 
night David went and hid in a wilderness where 
were rocks and caves and forests. 

The next day after David went away there was 
a great feast and Saul missed David because he 
was not there to eat or to play the harp. He asked 
Jonathan where David was, and Jonathan told 
Saul that David had gone into Bethlehem. Saul 
was very angry because David was not there and 
he was angry at Jonathan also and told him that 
David must be brought back and slain. Jonathan 
begged to know what David had done that he must 

183 



Bible Stories From the Old Testament 

be killed, and tbat made Sanl still more angry 
and be tried to kill Jonathan, too. Then, indeed, 
Jonathan knew that his father meant to kill David 
and he was sorely grieved. 

Jonathan went to the secret place where David 
was hiding and told him that Sanl really meant 
to kill him and that he mnst run away. They 
wept and kissed each other, and David went away 
and lived for many years in a wilderness. Jona- 
than went there and talked with him and told him 
not to fear Sanl and that one day he would be 
king over Israel himseK and he, Jonathan, should 
be next to him. 

You can understand how very beautiful this 
was in Jonathan when you remember that he, 
being the king's son, might have been king him- 
self. 

Some day when you are a little older you will 
turn to this story of one of the most beautiful 
friendships the world has ever known, and read 
it in the sweet old Bible words. 

Finally, after a great many battles, in some of 
which Saul fell iato the hands of David and found 

184 



The Story of a Beautiful Friendship 

David only kind to him, and about which you will 
like to read when you are older, Saul became dis- 
couraged and killed himself, and Jonathan was 
killed by the Philistines on the same day. 

When David heard of Jonathan's death he was 
bitterly grieved, and he wrote a beautiful song 
about it. 



185 



DAVID AND ABIGAIL 

I Samuel XXV:l-44 

T^O you remember tlie story of Hagar and her 
^^^ little boy Isbmael, and how they wandered 
in the desert where were only rocks and sandy 
places, with but now and then a shady spot or 
bit of water? 

Well, in this same rocky desert there lived, at 
the same time David was hiding in the wilderness 
from Saul who wanted to kill him, a farmer by 
the name of Nabal and whose wife's name was 
Abigail. Nabal was very rich for he had three 
thousand sheep and a thousand goats ; but he was 
of an evil disposition, churlish and bad tempered. 

Abigail, his wife, was a woman of good under- 
standing, wise in her dealings and very beautiful 
to look at. 

186 



David and Abigail 

Now, it was tlie custom in that land to gather 
together in the spring of the year the sheep from 
all over the hillsides and fields where they had 
been pasturing, with their shepherds to care for 
them, and shear them of their wool. You can 
imagine how they would look coming home to 
NabaPs shearing place, great flocks of them, this 
way and that, bleating and pattering along in the 
dust with their shepherds behind them. 

It was also the custom at this shearing season 
for the farmer to make a great feast, and the far- 
mer 's wife to prepare stores of food, bread and 
wine and meats and fruits for all the shepherds, 
and at these feasts were singing and dancing and 
making merry. 

Now, you remember that David was in hiding 
from SauPs jealous anger, and with him were six 
hundred brave and fearless warriors, and that the 
wilderness where they were was in the same land 
where NabaPs sheep had been feeding for many 
months. From time to time other men had joined 
David and once a number of the very men whom 
Saul had sent to capture him staid there and 

J 87 



Bible Stories From the Old Testament 

joined David ^s band of outlaws, for they knew 
him to be brave and fearless and they loved him. 

These young warrior companions of David's 
had often protected Nabal's sheep from wild 
beasts and had been of service to the shepherds 
also, for it was the custom of the farmers and 
shepherds round about to give gifts and food to 
the outlaws and in return their flocks were 
watched over and protected. When David heard 
of the great feast that was to take place on Na- 
baPs farm he sent ten of his young men to Nabal 
and bade them say: *^ Peace be both to thee and 
to thine house, and peace be to all thou hast." 
He told them to remind Nabal how they had taken 
care of his sheep and never harmed or stolen any 
of them, and to ask him to give them some of the 
good things from the feast to bring back to their 
companions in the desert. 

So the young warriors went up across the 
rocky, sandy desert to Nabal 's farm and repeated 
io him David's message. But Nabal was churl- 
ish and ill-tempered as always and said, **Who 
is this David? Who is this son of Jesse? There 

188 



David and Abifirail 



&' 



be many servants nowadays that break away from 
their masters. Shall I take then from my bread 
and my water and the meat that I have killed 
for my shearers and give it to men whom I know 
notr' 

So David ^s young men turned and went back to 
David and told him what Nabal had said. David 
was angry and he told his yonng men every one 
to pnt on his sword and he put on his sword also. 
About four hundred of them went marching away 
across the desert towards NabaPs farm while the 
other two hundred staid to watch the camp. 

Now, one of Nabal 's servants, when David's 
young men turned away to return to David with 
Nabal's rude message, went to Abigail and told 
her what had happened, how David's ten war- 
riors had come up with a peaceful greeting and 
had asked for some of the good things from the 
feast to take back to their companions in the 
wilderness, and how churlish Nabal had been to 
them. He told her that David and his men had 
always been good to the shepherds and had done 
many kind things for them and their flocks and 

189 



Bible Stories From the Old Testament 

that now Nabal had angered them he was certain 
they would return and perhaps kill even those who 
were not to blame for NabaPs evil temper. He 
begged Abigail to consider what could be done, 
''for," said he, ''Nabal is such a son of Belial 
that a man can not speak to him." 

Then Abigail made haste and took two hundred 
loaves and two bottles of wine and five sheep 
ready dressed and five measures of parched corn 
and an hundred clusters of raisins and two hun- 
dred cakes of figs and laid them on the backs of 
asses. And she said to her servants, "Go on be- 
fore me; behold, I will come after you." But 
she did not tell Nabal where she was going. 

All this time David and his four hundred war- 
riors were marching steadily across the desert 
toward NabaPs farm and the feast. By and by 
they came to a steep, narrow path that led down 
into a valley and as they looked they say a queer 
procession marching down to meet them on an 
opposite steep hill, some pack asses or little mules 
whose backs were laden with something in sacks 
and with men riding them and a woman riding be- 

190 



David and Abigail 

hind, alone. She was not afraid, even though 
she was riding to meet four hundred brave and 
fearless warriors in a narrow pass, and she had 
with her but a handful of men. 

When Abigail saw David she alighted and fell 
before him on her face and bowed herself to the 
ground. She begged him to forgive her for com- 
ing to meet him and not to go and kill Nabal and 
the shepherds, for, she told him, Nabal was but 
a churl and it would be unworthy such a man as 
he to avenge himself against a man like Nabal, 
for surely, she said, the Lord, Himself, would 
avenge David. She told him that she had known 
nothing of NabaPs rude treatment of David's men 
else she would have given them of the feast. She 
told David that even though an enemy was seek- 
ing to take his life the Lord would watch over him 
and would yet make him a great man and a ruler 
over Israel and she begged him that when such 
a time would come he would remember his hand- 
maid, Abigail. 

David was pleased with Abigail and blessed her 
and told her he was glad God had sent her to meet 

191 



Bible Stories From the Old Testament 

him and to prevent him from shedding blood. 
He took the gifts which she had brought him and 
said, '^Go up in peace to thine house for I have 
hearkened to thy advice." 

Abigail went back to her home and there she 
found the feast going merrily on and Nabal drunk 
with wine, so she told him nothing of where she 
had been until the next morning when the feast 
was over, and then she told him. When Nabal 
heard how angry David had been and how he had 
meant to kill him and all his shepherds his heart 
turned to stone with fear and in about ten days 
after that Nabal died. 

When David heard that Nabal was dead he 
thanked God again for having kept him from kill- 
ing Nabal, **for," said he, **the Lord hath re- 
turned the wickedness of Nabal upon his own 
head." 

After awhile David, remembering Abigail's 
fearlessness in coming to meet him and his war- 
riors in the narrow, hilly pass, and her kindness 
in bringing them good things from the feast, sent 

192 



David and Abigail 

Ms servants to ask her if slie would be his wife, 
and Abigail took five of her maid servants and 
they rode upon asses and went to David. 



193 



DAVID, THE SHEPHERD KING. 

11 Samuel I; V:4-6; VI 

W7 HEN David was told that Saul and Jonathan 
^ ^ were both killed in a battle with the Phils- 
tines he forgot how cruel Saul had been in wanting 
to kill him, and remembered only how good he had 
been to him at first and how he had loved him, and 
he mourned and grieved and would not be com- 
forted. He made a beautiful song about it which 
you will like to read in the Bible when you grow 
older. 

After a time, during which there was always 
much fighting with the Philistines, the Israelites 
chose David to be their king, for they knew he was 
brave and wise and that he always obeyed the 
voice of God. When David was thirty years of 
age he was anointed King of Israel, and he 
reigned forty years. 

David, you remember, had lived at Bethlehem 

194 



David, the Shepherd King 

with his father Jesse, who was a shepherd, and he 
had been just a simple shepherd boy tending his 
father's sheep and playing upon his harp until 
that wonderful day when the white haired old 
prophet Samuel had called him in from the hill- 
side to anoint him with oil and tell him he had 
been called to help God in His work. You re- 
member how he went to play the harp for King 
Saul and how after that came all the fighting with 
the Philistines and the slaying of Groliath and all 
those stormy days so different from what he had 
known on the peaceful hillsides where the morn- 
ings had been still and dewy and sweet, and the 
nights all starry and hushed, with only the bleat- 
ing of the sheep and their little lambs and the 
sound of his own harp for company. 

Being made King over a great country and 
thousands of people must have been a won- 
derful thing for this shepherd boy, but he deter- 
mined to be a good King and to listen always for 
the voice of God as he had done before. 

When you come to read stories of all these 

195 



Bible Stories From the Old Testament 

wonderful men in the Bible itself you will read 
of many things in their lives that I have not been 
able to tell you in this book, and some of the 
things you will like and consider very beautiful 
and other things you will hardly be able to under- 
stand. You will wonder how they could have been 
listening for the voice of God, but you must al- 
ways remember that these days were long and 
long ago, and that all around the men who were 
trying to be good were men who were not good 
and who were wicked and idolatrous and that 
they often got confused and could nardly tell right 
from wrong, just as we do sometimes, even yet. 
And you must also remember that all this was 
many, many years before Jesus Christ came into 
the world to teach more clearly what God wants 
us to do. 

And so when you come to read the story of 
King David you wiU remember all this and that he 
tried to **walk before God'' as the Bible says. 

The old Hebrew stories tell us that before Saul 
had been made king the beautiful Ark that held 
the Ten Commandments had been stolen by the 

196 



David, the Shepherd King 

Philistines and carried away, but that after keep- 
ing it for awhile they had taken it back to Canaan 
where a man named Eleazer had taken care of 
it in his house. 

After David came to be King he wanted the Ark 
brought back to Jerusalem and put in the Taber- 
nacle. So he gathered together all the chosen men 
of Israel and they went to Judah where the Ark 
was and set it upon a new cart drawn by oxen. 
Then David and all the men who were with him 
went before the Ark and played on instruments, — 
harps and cymbals and psalteries and timbrels 
and cornets. On the way something happened 
which made David afraid the Lord was displeased 
with them because they were carrying the Ark and 
so they left it at a house by the wayside. After- 
ward David went again with his men and got the 
Ark and took it to Jerusalem and put it in the 
Tabernacle. David was so glad that the Ark was 
being brought to Jerusalem that he danced and 
leaped with all his might and his men played upon 
trumpets and harps and they sang. And before 
the Israelites who had helped bring the Ark to 

197 



Bible Stories From the Old Testament 

Jerusalem went back to their homes he gave them, 
both men and women, bread and meat and wine 
and he blessed them. 

After awhile David began to think that the Ark 
ought to have a more beautiful Tabernacle built 
in which to keep it and he talked with his friend 
Nathan, the prophet, about it. Nathan, in the 
night, heard the voice of the Lord speaking to hini 
in a dream, telling him that David should have a 
son who would build the Tabernacle after he, 
David, was dead. Nathan told David that the 
Lord had said that he would watch over and care 
for his son and make him a great man and a 
great ruler. When Nathan had done telling 
David what the Lord had said David went into his 
house and prayed to God, thanking Him for all 
the wonderful things He had done and for His 
promise. Afterward a son was surely born to 
David and they called him Solomon. All his life 
David remembered the promise of God to Nathan 
that Solomon should build the beautiful Taber- 
nacle and he gathered together beautiful treasures 
of gold and silver to be put into the Temple. 

198 



David, the Shepherd King 

David was called by the Hebrews ^^The Sweet 
Psalmist/' because he was always singing and 
playing upon his loved harp. He sang about love 
and mercy and the tender care of God. He sang 
about sheep and little lambs and beautiful dewy 
mornings and cool starry nights and little brooks 
and still waters, for these were the things he had 
known most about when he was a shepherd boy 
and tended the sheep on the hillside, and before he 
ever dreamed of being a great leader of battles 
or a King. 

And when he was an old, old man he called about 
him the priests and prophets and told them to call 
his son, Solomon, and anoint him King of Israel 
to reign in his stead and they did. And Solomon 
was made King while David was yet alive. 



199 



DAVID AND HIS SON ABSALOM 

11 Samuel XVIII :l-33 

\\7HILF, David was King of Israel there was 

* ^ fighting and* bloodshed just as there had 

been during SanPs reign, for there were always 

countries and nations warring with one another. 

David marshalled all his armies and sent cap- 
tains over there and then he said to the people, 
'*I will go forth into battle with you.'' But the 
people would not let him. **Thou shalt not go 
forth,'' they said. '*If we flee away they will 
not care for us ; neither if half of us die, will they 
care for us; but thou art worth ten thousand of 
us, and it is better therefore that thou stay in 
the city and watch over it and guide us from 
there. ' ' 

David said, *^Very well. What seemest to you 
best I will do." 

200 



David and His Son Absalom 

So he stood at the gate of the palace and 
watched the soldiers march by, and as they went 
by he said to each captain, **Deal gently, for my 
sake, with the young man, my son Absalom/' 
And all the people heard the king give charge to 
the captains over Absalom. 

Now Absalom was not a good man and he had 
been very wicked and unkind to his father David. 
He had even tried to get the kingdom away from 
him and David had had to flee for his life from 
Absalom and Absalom's men. 

Nevertheless, when his own troops were march- 
ing away he was afraid they would be angry at 
Absalom for his wickedness to the king, so he told 
them to *^deal gently with him for my sake.'' 

The battle that day was fought in a great and 
thick forest and a great many lives were lost. 
Absalom and his men were fighting against King 
David's men. Absalom came riding through the 
thick forest on a mule and just as he met some 
of the king's servants the mule ran into the thick 
branches of an oak and Absalom was caught by 
the branches of the oak and hung there. Then 

201 



Bible Stories From the Old Testament 

some of the men who had seen this, enemies of 
Absalom, ran and told some other men and to- 
gether they came and ran swords into him and 
killed him, so angry were they at his wickedness 
to his father. They took down his body and 
threw it into a pit in the wood. 

During all the time of the battle David sat £.t 
the gate of the palace waiting for news, and over 
the gates on the roof stood the watchman to see 
if any one came. 

In those days the only way there was of sending 
news was to send a man who could run very swift- 
ly. So when the watchman over the gate saw a 
man running swiftly he called to David and said, 
* ^ There is a man running. ' ' 

' ' Is he alone ? ' ' cried the King. ' ' If he is alone 
then there is tidings in his mouth. ' ' 

The watchman called that there was another 
man coming, running swiftly behind the first 
runner. Then the first man came swiftly up to 
the gate and called out to the King, ^*A11 is well.'' 
And he bowed his head down upon the earth and 
said, ** Blessed be the Lord thy God which hath 

202 



David and His Son Absalom 

delivered up the men that lifted up their hand 
against my lord the king." 

But there was one thing more than all others 
King David wanted to know and he cried out 
quickly, 

**Is the young man Absalom safe?" 

The runner replied: **When the captain sent 
thy servant I saw a great tumult, but I knew not 
what it was. ' ' 

Then the second runner came up and the King 
told the first man to stand aside while he heard 
the other's news. 

*^ Tidings," cried the second runner, ^^My lord 
the King ; for the Lord hath avenged thee this day 
of all that rose up against thee." 

But as before there was one thing more than 
others that a loving, white-haired old father 
wanted to know. ^^Is the young man Absalom 
safe ? " he cried. 

Then the runner replied solemnly: ^^May the 
enemies of my lord the king and all that rise 

203 



Bible Stories From the Old Testament 

against thee and do thee harm, be as that yonng 
man is/' 

Then David knew that Absalom was dead, and 
even though his son had been wicked and crnel to 
him, so strong and deep was his father love that 
he went up into the chamber over the gate and 
bowed his old white head in his hands and wept, 
and as he went he cried out : 

**0, my son Absalom! My son, my son Absa- 
lom ! Would God I had died for thee, Absalom 
my son, my son.'' 



204 




WILDE'S BIBLE PICTUKES 



DAVID MOURNING FOR ABSALOM 
Page 20U 



DOEE 1833-1883 



KING SOLOMON, THE WISE 

I Kings 1:1-52 

ILTOU will remember that King David had an- 
other son named Solomon, and when David 
had died, Solomon was made king of the Israel- 
ites. 

Solomon took for his wife the daughter of 
Pharaoh, the king of Egypt, and brought her 
to his own house in Jerusalem. Then he built a 
great Tabernacle and great walls about the city 
of Jerusalem. Solomon loved the Lord and tried 
to obey His voice as his father, David, had done. 

One night God spoke to Solomon in a dream 
and said, **Ask what I shall give thee.'* And 
Solomon answered: **Thou hast shown unto thy 
servant, David, my father, great mercy according 
as he walked before Thee in righteousness and 
in uprightness of heart with Thee. And Thou 



Bible Stories From the Old Testament 

hast kept for him the great kindness that thou 
hast given him a son to sit on his throne. And 
now, Lord my God, thou hast made thy servant 
king instead of David, my father. And ± am but 
a little child: I know not how to go out or to 
come in.'' He said that he had been made ruler 
over so many people that they could not even be 
numbered or counted, and he asked God to give 
him great wisdom, so that he would be better 
able to teach and lead his people. 

His answer pleased the Lord and the Lord told 
him that because he had not asked riches, nor for 
long life, nor for greatness, nor for any of the 
things that a selfish person would have asked for, 
but just wisdom and understanding to rule his 
people, the Lord would give him not only these 
things but honor and riches also. And He told 
Solomon that if he was a good man and obeyed 
God as his father, David, had done, he should 
live to be a very old man. 

Solomon reigned as King for many years and 
was so great in wisdom and understanding and 

206 



King Solomon, the Wise 

Imew so many things that people came from all 
the world around to get wisdom from him. They 
never ceased to marvel at the wonderful under- 
standing and sayings of Solomon. And even to- 
day which is thousands of years since Solomon 
was king, we go to the story of his life in the Bible 
for wisdom. 

There was not so much fighting with the Philis- 
tines during Solomon's reign as there had been 
during David's, so Solomon had more time for 
other things. He built the Temple that his father, 
David, had wanted to build, and for which David 
had saved so many golden and silver treasures. 
It was a most wonderful building all built of cedar, 
which was the most beautiful wood they could get, 
and this was carved into beautiful flowers and 
angels and palm trees and then all this was cov- 
ered with pure gold. The doors and floors and 
walls were all made of wood and carved with 
flowers and then covered with gold. They were 
seven years building it. 

Everybody in Israel brought treasures of gold 
and silver and jewels to help make the wonderful 

207 



Bible Stories From the Old Testament 

Temple and when it was done all the Israelites 
came to see it and to feast and praise God. They 
brought the Ark in which were the Ten Com- 
mandments and all the jewels and gold and silver 
and precious treasures that David had saved 
and put them in the Temple. Then they sang 
and played upon instruments, harps and cymbals 
and trumpets. King Solomon stood outside the 
Temple and made a beautiful prayer to God, 
ihanking Him for all His kindness to them and 
telling Him that they were glad they could build 
this Temple for Him. When he had finished he 
blessed the people and said : * ^ The Lord our God 
be with us as He was with our fathers. Let Him 
not leave us or forsake us." 

Before the people went away he gave to each 
one, men and women, meat and bread and wine 
and they feasted. 

King Solomon became, as the Lord had 
promised him, the wisest man in all the world 
and also the richest. He had many ships that 
sailed to other countries and brought back spices 

208 



King Solomon, the "Wise 

and gold and silver and jewels and other treas- 
ures. He liad great flocks of sheep and herds 
of cattle and many servants and beautiful houses. 
All his drinking vessels were of pure gold. Even 
silver was not thought good enough, for of both 
gold and silver there were great plenty. The 
King had at sea a great navy, and once in three 
years his ships came home bringing rich cargoes 
of gold and silver, ivory and apes and peacocks. 
He had horses brought from Egypt, and chariots. 
His merchants brought rich cloths and linens, and 
everyone who came brought presents, vessels of 
silver and vessels of gold and rich garments and 
armory, spices, horses and mules until King Solo- 
mon was the richest as well as the wisest man in 
all the world. All this God had given him because 
he was not selfish, but had asked for that which 
was worth more than all these. 



209 



THE QUEEN OF SHEBA 

1 Kings X 

/^NCE while Solomon was King over Israel he 
^^ had a visit from another royal monarch 
which was a very grand visit indeed. 

The Queen of Sheba, a country which was in the 
southern part of Arabia, heard of the great wis- 
dom and knowledge of King Solomon, so she re- 
solved to go and see him and to ask him all the 
hard questions she could think of, for she was a 
very wise woman herself. 

The Queen of Sheba ordered a great many 
camels and servants got ready to bear her. The 
camels were laden with sweet spices, ivory, ebony 
and precious stones, and their trappings were of 
rich blankets in purple and crimson velvet with 
shiny silver harness. The queen was dressed in 
richest robes with jewels about her neck and upon 

210 



The Queen of Sheba 

her arms. She rode iipoii the biggest and finest 
camel whose trappings were of velvet and gold 
and silver and there were men servants and maid 
servants and camel drivers to take care of her. 

A message was sent to tell King Solomon of 
her coming and when the long tram of camels 
with their tinkling bells and their precious freight 
began to draw near, King Solomon went down 
upon the steps of his wonderful temple to meet 
her. The steps were carpeted with the softest of 
carpets and a beautiful stool was brought for the 
Queen of Sheba to step on. 

Then King Solomon showed the Queen of Sheba 
the wonderful house he had built with its hun- 
dreds of men servants and maid servants, the 
ministers who waited upon the king with their 
rich and beautiful garments and jewels, and he 
answered all the questions the Queen of Sheba 
asked. 

Then the Queen of Sheba believed all that had 
been told her of Solomon's wisdom and glory and 
she said: 

**It was a true report that I heard in mine own 

211 



Bible Stories From the Old Testament 

land of thy acts and of thy wisdom. I believed 
not the words until I came and mine eyes had seen 
it. And behold the half was not told me. Thy 
wisdom and thy prosperity exceeded the fame 
which I heard. Happy are the men, happy are 
these, thy servants, which stand continually before 
thee and hear thy wisdom. Blessed be the Lord 
thy God which delighteth in thee, to set thee on 
the throne of Israel." 

She gave the king beantifnl presents of gold 
and jewels and spices. No one in all the country 
ever brought to Jerusalem such an abundance 
of rich spices and gifts as the Queen of Sheba 
brought to Solomon. 

And when the Queen had seen all the splendor 
of Solomon's house and had learned his wisdom 
and greatness, she called her servants and they 
went back to their own country. 



212 



THE STOEY OF ELIJAH 

I Kings XVI; XVIII :41'46; XIX:l-8 

JT ING Solomon reigned king over Israel many, 
'*^^ many years and after he died the Land of 
Canaan was divided into two parts. One was still 
called Israel and the other was called Judah. 
These countries had many different kings as the 
years went by and the people often lost sight of 
the true God, the God Moses and Noah and Jacob 
and Abraham had loved and taught their people 
about. They made images or idols out of stone 
and wood and ivory and worshipped them and 
prayed to them, just as the people worshipped the 
golden calf that time when Moses was up in the 
mountain listening for the word of God to give 
him the Ten Commandments. 

Now and then there would be amongst these 
people a prophet, a man who still believed in the 

213 



Bible Stories From the Old Testament 

true God and who would tell the people about Him 
and how wrong and foolish it was to pray to idols 
and images. 

One of these prophets was named Elijah. He 
was a good man and loved God very, very much. 
He tried to teach the people about Him, and he 
told the heathen King who was ruler over Israel 
at that time that there should be no rain or dew 
for three years in all Israel, and that a famine 
would come upon them, because he and his people 
were wicked and prayed to heathen gods instead 
of praying to the true God and loving Him. 

God spoke to Elijah, telling him to go to where 
there was a little brook and stay there where he 
could get water to drink and He would send 
ravens every day to feed him all the time he was 
there, because the people would be angry at him 
for bringing the famine. Elijah did as God had 
told him. He went to the little brook and the 
ravens brought him bread and meat in the morn- 
ing and bread and meat in the evening. And he 
drank water from the brook. Finally, because 
there was neither rain nor dew the brook dried 

214 



The Story of Elijah 

up and then God told Elijah to go to the city some 
distance away where lived a widow woman who 
would get him food and drink. When Elijah came 
to the gate of the city the widow woman was 
gathering sticks. He called to her and said 
"Fetch me, I pray thee, a little water in a vessel 
that I may drink, ^' and as she was going to bring 
the water he called again and said, "Bring me, I 
pray thee, a morsel of bread in thine hand. ^ ' She 
toJd him that she had no bread in the house and 
but a handful of meal in a barrel and a little oil 
in a bottle, and that she would make a cake for 
herself and her son and when they had eaten this 
she expected they would die for there was nothing 
more for them to eat. But Elijah told her to go 
and make the cakes and to bring him one, and 
that as long as the famine lasted there would al- 
ways be meal in the barrel and oil in the cruse. 
And the woman did as he told her and it was as 
Elijah had said. There was always meal in the 
barrel and oil in the cruse for all of them. 

One time while Elijah was living here with the 
widow woman during the famine, her little son 

215 



Bible Stories From tlie Old Testament 

was taken very ill and died. The woman called 
npon Elijah and asked him if he had been sent to 
slay her son because of her sins. Elijah was 
grieved and sorry for her and he told her to give 
him her son. He took the little boy upstairs to 
the loft where he slept and laid him npon his own 
bed. And then he lay down against the child 
and prayed God not to bring sorrow upon the 
widow woman who had been so good to him, and 
God heard the voice of Elijah and the child wa& 
restored to life. Elijah took the child back to his 
mother and said, ^^Thy son liveth,'' and the 
woman said, *^Now I know that thon art a man of 
God and the word of the Lord in thy mouth ia 
truth." 

When the three years of famine were ended all 
Israel was suffering very greatly for want of rain, 
Elijah went to the king and told him that if 
he and all his people would stop worshipping idols 
he would pray to God to send rain. And the King 
promised. Then Elijah took his servant and went 
up to the top of a mountain and he put his face 
down between his knees and prayed. Then he told 

216 



The Story of Elijah 

his servant to look away toward the sea and to tell 
him if there were any clouds that looked like rain. 
The servant looked and said, ** There is nothing/' 
Elijah bade him look again and again until he 
had looked seven times and at the seventh time 
the servant said, '^ There ariseth a little cloud 
out of the sea like a man's hand.'' And very 
soon the heavens were black with clouds and wind 
and there was great rain that refreshed all the 
thirsty land and filled all the brooks and made the 
people glad. Then people believed that Elijah's 
God to whom he had prayed and who had sent the 
blessed rain was the true God and the only God 
who could answer prayer. 

Another time when an enemy had threatened 
Elijah's life, he went away into the wilderness 
and sat down under a juniper tree, for he was 
discouraged and sad. And he called to God and 
said, **It is enough now. 0, Lord, take away my 
life and let me die." 

But, while he was lying there under the juniper 
tree, an angel came and touched him and said, 
** Arise and eat." 

217 



Bible Stories From the Old Testament 

Elijah, looked and there was a cake which had 
been baked on the coals of a fire he had made, 
and a bottle of water stood near by, and he ate 
and drank and then lay down again and slept. 
And the angel came again a second time and gave 
him bread and meat to eat and water to drink so 
that he had strength to journey the long distance 
to the land where he was going. 



218 



THE ANGEL THAT FOUGHT AN AEMY 

n Kings XIX 

TN spite of Elijah's teachings as well as those 
■'• of all the other prophets and good men, the 
Israelites were still very wicked and idolatrous 
nnd made idols of wood and stone to which they 
prayed. Even the kings were wicked and prayed 
1o idols instead of to the true God. 

There were different kings for all the different 
countries of Judah and Israel and there was 
much fighting amongst them. 

One time a king who was very rich and power- 
ful, came from a country called Assyria with a 
Krent number of soldiers and they conquered the 
Israelites and took away their treasures and 
liches and made a great many of the Israelites 
slaves and took them away to their own land. 

Now there was a king of Judah called Hezekiah 

219 



Bible Stories From the Old Testament 

who was a good king and taught his people abont 
the true God. And they destroyed the idols and 
false gods that the people had been worshipping 
and prayed to God in heaven. 

When the Assyrians had fought against the 
Israelites and conquered them they turned to- 
ward Judah intending to conquer that too. Heze- 
kiah knew what a terrible army the Assyrian 
army was and he trembled for his people fearing 
they would be slain and taken captives as the 
Hebrews had been, so he sent for a prophet called 
Isaiah and asked him to pray to God to help 
them. Isaiah spoke comforting words to Heze- 
kiah telling him to trust in God and to pray to 
Him. Hezekiah did, and this was his prayer : * * 
Lord, our God, I beseech Thee, save us out of the 
Assyrians ' hand, that all the earth may know that 
Thou art the Lord our God, even thou alone." 

Then, the Bible story tells us, the angel of the 
Lord went forth in the night into the camps of 
the Assyrians and smote among the soldiers until 
great numbers of them were dead, and when word 
was brought to the King of the Assyrians in the 

220 



The Angel That Fought an Army 

morning that many of his soldiers were dead and 
no one knew how they had been slain he was 
afraid and gathered up the remainder of his sol- 
diers and fled for fear the God of the Hebrews 
would kill all of his soldiers. 

After King Hezekiah died the Judean Kings 
were all wicked and idolatrous, and finally a great 
army from another country called Babylon, under 
a king called Nebuchadnezzar, came and fought 
against the Judeans and killed and conquered al- 
most all of the Hebrews that were there. 

This was a very dreadful battle, for the 
Babylonians burned up the buildings of Jerusalem 
and among them the beautiful Tabernacle that 
King Solomon had built. They carried off all the 
golden and silver treasures that King David had 
been so long saving for the Temple and took them 
to their own country to put in their own Temples 
where their heathen gods were. 

When the Hebrews were forced to leave Pales- 
tine which had been their home and the home of 
their forefathers for so long, and go away to a 
strange country as captives they were very sad. 

221 



Bible Stories From the Old Testament 

The Hebrews bad always loved singing and 
music and they had made a great many beautiful 
songs which they loved to sing while they ijlayed 
upon harps and other instruments, but now as 
they went upon their long, sad journey into tlio 
strange land of Babylon they had no heart to 
sing or to play upon instruments. 

Their captors, the Babylonians, wanted to 
make them sing while they were on the journey, 
but the Hebrews were too sad and said they could 
not sing. One of them in telling about it after- 
ward said mournfully, ^*By the rivers of Baby 
Ion, there we sat down, yea, we wept; we remem- 
bered Zion. We hanged our harps upon the 
willows that were in the rivers. For they that 
carried us away captive required of us a sons-, 
saying, *Sing us one of the songs that you used to 
sing in your old home.' But how shall we sing in 
a strange landf And they prayed God not to 
forget them in the land to which they were bein.u." 
carried. 



THE BUENING FIERY FURNACE 

Daniel 111:1-30 

XT EB-U-CHAD-NEZ-ZAR, while he was king of 
-*■ ^ the Jews, made an image of gold and set in 
up in Babylon. Then he sent for all the princes, 
judges, treasurers, counsellors, sheriffs and all 
the rulers of the provinces to come to the dedica- 
tion of this image. 

And when all these men were gathered to- 
gether and stood before the image which Neb- 
u-chad-nez-zar had set up, a herald cried out and 
said, *'To you, people, nations and lan.guages: 
At the time when you hear music, the music of 
the cornet, the flute, harp, sackbut, psaltery and 
dulcimer, Ye shall fall down and worship the 
golden image which Neb-u-chad-nez-zar the King 
hath set up. And every man who doth not wor- 
ship, shall be cast into the midst of a burning 
fiery furnace.'' 



Bible Stories From the Old Testament 

So tlie people all stood very silent and still 
waiting for the sound of music, and when they 
heard the sound of flute, harp, cornet, and all the 
other instruments burst forth into music they all 
fell down upon their knees and faces and wor- 
shipped the golden image. 

When they had worshipped they rose up. Then 
there came to Neb-u-chad-nez-zar, the king, some 
men from Chaldea, and they said, **0 King, live 
forever! Thou, King, hath made a decree 
that every man that shall hear the sound of the 
cornet, flute, harp, sackbut, psaltery and dul- 
cimer shall fall down and worship the golden 
image. And who so falleth not down and wor- 
shippeth shall be cast into the midst of a burning 
fiery furnace. There are certain Jews who thou 
hast set over the affairs of the province of Baby- 
lon, named Shad-rach, Me-shach and A-bed-ne-go, 
and these men, King, have not regarded thee; 
they serve not thy gods nor worship the golden 
image which thou hast set up." 

Then Neb-u-chad-nez-zar was angry and fur- 
ious and he commanded these men, Shad-rach, 



The Burning Fiery Furnace 

Me-sach, and A-bed-ne-go to be brought before 
him. And they were brought. 

Then Neb-u-ehad-nez-zar spoke to them and 
said, ^*Is it true, Shad-rach, Me-shach and A- 
bed-ne-go, that ye do not serve my gods nor 
worship the image which I have set up? Now, if 
ye be ready at what time ye hear the sound of the 
cornet, flute, harp, sackbut, psaltery, dulcimer 
and all kinds of music to fall down and worship 
the image which I have made — well; but if ye 
worship not, in that same hour ye shall be cast 
into the midst of a burning fiery furnace; and 
where is your God that shall deliver you out of 
my hands?'' 

Shad-rach, Me-shach and A-bed-ne-go an- 
swered and said to the king, *^0 Neb-u-chad-nez- 
zar, we are not careful to answer thee in this 
matter. If it be so, our God whom we serve, is 
able to deliver us from the burning fiery furnace 
and he will deliver us out of thy hands. But if 
not, be it known to thee, King, that we will not 
serve thy gods nor worship the golden image 
which thou hast set up.'' 

225 



Bible Stories From the Old Testament 

Then Neb-n-chad-nez-zar was more angry and 
furious than ever. He ordered that the furnace 
should be heated seven times hotter than it was 
usually heated. He ordered his servants to bind 
the arms and feet of Shad-rach, Me-shach and 
A-bed-ne-go and to throw them into the midst of 
the furnace. 

Then these men were bound in their coats, hats 
and other garments and were cast into the midst 
of the burning fiery furnace. The furnace had 
been heated so terribly hot that its flames reached 
out and drew in the bodies of the men who were 
holding Shad-rach, Me-shach and A-bed-ne-go 
and burned them up, and the three men whom 
they were casting in fell down bound into the 
midst of the burning fiery furnace. 

Then Neb-u-chad-nez-zar who was watching, 
leaned forward and looked and looked again. 
Then he drew back and his face grew white with 
fear. He turned to his counsellors and said: 
**Did we not cast three men bound into the midst 
of the firef And they answered and said unto 
the King— ^^ True, King.'' 

226 



The Burning Fiery Furnace 

Then Neb-u-chad-nez-zar cried out and said, 
^*Lo, I see four men walking unhurt in the midst 
of the fire — and the form of the fourth is like the 
Son of God." Then Neb-u-chad-nez-zar went up 
near to the mouth of the burning fiery furnace 
and called, ^^Shad-rach, Me-shach and A-bed-ne- 
go,'* he said, **ye servants of the most high God, 
come forth and come hither." Then Shad-rach, 
Me-shach and A-bed-ne-go came forth out of the 
midst of the fire. And all the princes, governors, 
captains and king's counsellors gathered about 
them and they saw that neither were the bodies 
of these men nor the clothes upon them scorched. 
The fire had no power over them, neither was the 
hair of their heads singed and there was no smell 
of fire upon them. 

Then Neb-u-chad-nez-zar said, ** Blessed be the 
God of Shad-rach, Me-shach, and A-bed-ne-go 
who hath sent his angel to take care of his ser- 
vants who trusted m him so greatly that they 
were willing to be cast into a burning fiery fur- 
nace rather than worship any god save their own 
God." 

227 



Bible Stories From the Old Testament 

Then Neb-u-chad-nez-zar made a law that 
every people or nation which should speak any 
word against the God of Shad-rach, Me-shach 
and A-bed-ne-go should be cut in pieces and their 
houses torn down. ** Because,'' he said ** there is 
no other God that can deliver after this sort.'' 



THE FEAST OF BELSHAZZAR 

Daniel V.-l-Sl 

T> EL-SHAZ-ZAR was the son of Neb-u-chad- 
-■-^ nez-zar and lie was king of the Jews after 
Neb-u-chad-nez-zar. 

One time, the Bible stories say, Bel-shaz-zar 
made a great feast to a thousand of his lords. 
There were a great many tables set for the feast, 
and the tables were laden with many good things 
to eat and much wine to drink. 

Bel-shaz-zar commanded his servants to bring 
the gold and silver vessels which his father, Neb- 
u-chad-nez-zar had taken out of Solomon's beau- 
tiful temple at Jerusalem when it was destroyed 
He wanted all the princes and lords to drink from 
these beautiful vessels of gold and silver. 

So the servants brought these beautiful vessels 
of gold and silver and all the people drank from 
them, praising the gods of gold and the gods of 

229 



Bible Stories From the Old Testament 

silver and of brass, of iron, of wood and of stone, 
but giving no thought to the true God. 

While they were all drinking and eating, sing- 
ing, laughing and making merry, suddenly there 
came a great light upon the wall across from 
where Bel-shaz-zar sat, a solemn, beautiful white 
light, and in that light Bel-shaz-zar saw a man's 
hand and it was writing something on the wall. 

The king grew pale and frightened and his 
hands and knees shook with fear. He cried aloud 
to the people and asked them if they saw it and 
what it meant. He begged them to bring in all 
the astrologers and fortune tellers, all the inter- 
preters of dreams. He said: ** Whosoever shall 
read this writing and show me what it means, he 
shall be clothed with scarlet and have a chain ot* 
gold about his neck and shall be the third ruler 
in the kingdom.'' 

Then came all the king's wise men, but they 
could not read the writing nor intrepret it to the 
king. And King Bel-shaz-zar was greatly 
troubled and afraid. 

The queen came to the king in the banquet 

230 



The Feast of Belshazzar 

liouse and she said, '*0 King, live forever, let not 
thy thoughts trouble thee.'* Then she told him 
of a man in the kingdom whom his father Neb- 
u-chad-nez-zar had made master over all the ma- 
gicians and astrologers. She said this man 
could interpret any dreams or make clear any 
doubt or hard sentence, and that his name was 
Daniel. 

Then the king commanded Daniel to be brought 
and he came. The king told Daniel that he had 
heard of his wonderful interpretation of dreams 
and things unknown and he said: *^If thou canst 
read this writing and make known to me the in- 
terpretation of it I will clothe thee in scarlet and 
thou shalt have a chain of gold about thy neck and 
fihalt be third ruler in the kingdom." 

Then Daniel answered and told the king he did 
not want the gifts but that he could intrepret the 
writing and would. He told King Bel-shaz-zar 
that God had given his father Neb-u-chad-nez-zar 
ii great kingdom, majesty, glory and honor, so 
much that all the people had trembled and been 
lafraid of him. But that Neb-u-chad-nez-zar had 

231 



Bible Stories From the Old Testament 

been hard with his people, cruel and unkind, and 
bad torn down their beautiful temple which Sol- 
omon had made to God. And that finally his 
glory and power had been taken from him and he 
had had to go out and eat grass and sleep with 
the oxen of the fields. Of all these things Daniel 
reminded Bel-shaz-zar and then he told Bel-shaz- 
zar that he was doing the same thing, being 
proud and hard in his heart, drinking wine from 
the golden vessels of the Temple and praising 
the gods of gold and silver and brass when these 
very vessels were vessels belonging to the house 
of God. And he told him that the handwriting 
on the wall was a warning and this was what it 
said: 

**Mene, Me-ne, Te-kel, XJphar-sin." 

**Me-ne,'' said Daniel, ^* Means, *God hath 
numbered thy kingdom and finished it.' 

** Te-kel means, ^Thou art weighed in the bal- 
ances and found wanting.' 

**Pe-res, (which is another form of the word 
**Upharsin") means, 'Thy kingdom is divided 
and given unto the Medes and Persians.' " 

283 



The Feast of Belshazzar 

This, Daniel told him was the intrepretation of 
the writing. And Bel-shaz-zar commanded that 
Daniel should be clothed in scarlet and a chain 
of gold put about his neck. He also made a procla- 
mation throughout the land that Daniel should 
be third ruler of the kingdom. 

But that very night Bel-shaz-zar was slain, and 
Darius — one of the Medes, was made ruler of the 
kingdom. 



DANIEL IN THE LION^S DEN 

Daniel VI: 1-24 

A FTEE the Hebrews had been in the new land 
-^ ^ for a long time they ceased to mourn for 
their old home and became quite well contented 
with their new home, especially those of them to 
whom the king was kind. Some of them even 
forgot their own God of whom their prophets 
and priests had taught them and worshipped 
idols and gods as the Babylonians did. 

There were a few left among them, however, 
who always remembered that they were Hebrews 
and that there was one true living God who 
would hear and answer prayer. Amongst the 
few who were faithful to their teachings was a 
man named Daniel, the same Daniel who inter- 
preted the handwriting on the wall. Daniel was 
a good man and listened for the voice of God. 

234 



Daniel in the Lion's Den 

He would not pray to heathen gods and idols, but 
he was wise and kind and the king of Babylon was 
good to him and loved him and gave him many 
favors even more than were given to presidents 
and princes of the Babylonians themselves. Of 
course this made the princes and presidents jeal- 
ous and angry at Daniel and they wanted to 
harm him. So they put their heads together and 
made a wicked plan. They made a law that any 
man who should pray to any other god or man 
besides the king for thirty days should be thrown 
into a lions' den. They knew that every day at 
morning, noon and evening Daniel opened his win- 
dows toward Jerusalem where his old home was 
and prayed to another God, and they intended that 
he should be killed in this way. 

So they went to King Darius with their law 
and told him that they had decided among them- 
selves that any man who should pray to any 
other god or man besides the king should be cast 
into the den of lions, and they asked Darius to 
sign the decree which would make it a law. And 
the king signed the decree. 

235 



Bible Stories From the Old Testament 

When Daniel heard that this decree had been 
made he paid no attention to it but went into 
his house and opened his windows toward Jeru- 
salem, where the beautiful Temple of God had 
been, and which, therefore seemed to bring him 
closer to God, and he prayed to God as he had 
done every day before. The wicked men who 
had made the decree came and found him praying 
and then they went straightway to King Darius 
and said, ^^Thou hast signed a decree that any 
man that prayeth to any god or man within thirty 
days, save thee, King, should be cast into the 
lions' denf And the king said, **It is true." 
Then they told him that Daniel, one of the He- 
brew captives, was praying to his God three 
times a day. They told the king also that he 
must keep his word about casting him into the 
lions' den, for a king's word may not be broken. 
All day long the king tried to find some means of 
delivering Daniel and could not. So the king 
commanded and they brought Daniel and cast 
him iato the lions' den. The king, who was fond 
of Daniel and felt sorry for him, said, * ^ Thy God 

236 



Daniel in the Lion's Den 

whom thou servest continually, He will deliver 
thee.'' 

They brought a great stone and laid it upon the 
mouth of the lions' den and the king sealed it 
with his own signet. 

Then the king went to his own palace but he 
could not eat or sleep and he would not let them 
play upon the musical instruments for him, but 
spent the whole night long thinking about Daniel 
and hoping' his God would deliver him. Early 
the next morning he rose and hurried to the den 
of lions where Daniel was and he cried out to 
Daniel, **0 Daniel, Daniel, is thy God whom thou 
servest continually, able to deliver thee from the 
lions?" And Daniel, standing there among all 
the fierce lions answered, *'0 King, live forever! 
My God hath sent His angel and hath shut the 
lions' mouths that they have not hurt me." 

Then King Darius was very glad and com- 
manded that Daniel be taken from the den. He 
sent for the wicked men who had accused Daniel 
and had them thrown into the lions' den and the 
lions ate them up. 

237 



Bible Stories From the Old Testament 

Then King Darius wrote to all the people on all 
the earth a message which declared that Daniel 's 
God was the true God, for He was a true and 
steadfast God who answers prayers and takes 
care of his kingdom. 



238 




^SK^' 



1^ 



THE STORY OF KING AHASUERUS AND 
VASHTI 

Esther 1:1-22 

A T one time there reigned a great king, named 
'^ -^ A-has-u-e-rus. He was ruler over many- 
provinces from India to Ethiopia, and was a 
very rich and powerful king. 

When he had heen ruler of this country for 
three years he gave a feast in the royal palace, 
and invited all the princes from the various 
provinces of which he was ruler, the nobles from 
Persia and Media, and all the stewards, and 
those that ruled under him. 

This great feast lasted for a hundred and 
eighty days, and on all those days there was 
barqueting, dining, sijvging, dancing, and other 
irerry-making. The gues+s also spent much of 

heir time in wandering over this beautiful castle 



239 



Bible Stories From the Old Testament 

and examining all the wonderful things that were 
in it. The rooms were not papered as onr rooms 
are, but were hung with beautiful silks, white, 
green and blue, and these were fastened with 
great cords also of silk with huge silken tassels 
at the ends, to silver rings and marble pillars. 
The beds were of gold and silver, and the cover- 
lets were of silk; the floors were paved with mar- 
ble of all colors, red, blue, white and black. Each 
one had a cup of gold to drink from, and no two 
cups were alike. 

When this feast was over King A-has-u-e-rus 
gave another feast and invited, besides all the 
princes who were there, all the people who lived 
in the palace, and this feast lasted seven days. 
Again there was much feasting and ^Jrinking and 
merry-making and each one had a golden cup to 
drink from and no two were alike. 

Now the name of the que^n of A-has-u-e-rus 
was Vashti, and Vashti also gave a great feast 
to all the women in tha royal palace. 

On the seventh dpy of the feast. King A-has- 
u-e-rus sent his/chamberlains^ — ^the men who 

240 



The Story of King Ahasuerus and Vashti 

were always near him to serve him — to Vashti 
and commanded her to come to his feast wearing 
her royal crown and robes, to show all the princes 
and nobles what a beautiful queen she was. But 
Queen Vashti did not fancy coming into this 
great room where were hundreds of half drunken 
men just that they might stare at her and make 
remarks about her beauty. She therefore sent 
word to King A-has-u-e-rus by his chamberlains 
that she would not come. 

When the Chamberlains returned to the king 
and told him that Queen Vashti refused to obey 
him, he was very angry. He turned to those 
princes who sat next him, which were the princes 
of Media and Persia, and asked them what they 
thought he o\ight to do to punish Queen Vashti 
for her disobedience. The princes told him that 
Vashti had done wi-ong, not only to the king, but 
to all the princes and nobles of the Empire, be- 
cause when their ladies heard that the queen 
dared disobey the King and was not punished for 
it, all their own wives and tht ladies belonging to 
their households would disobty them also and 

241 



Bible Stories From the Old Testament 

there would be great trouble throughout the Em- 
pire. They told King A-has-u-e-rus therefore, 
that they thought he ought to send a written de- 
cree or law to all the provinces of his empire, 
and to the Medes and Persians, saying that be- 
cause of her disobedience. Queen Vashti would be 
forbidden ever to come to the royal palace again, 
or ever to wear the royal crown; and then when 
the wives and ladies belonging to the households 
of the princes and nobles throughout the king- 
dom heard what had happened to Queen Vashti, 
because of her disobedience, they would all obey 
their husbands and do honor to them. 

This pleased the king and he wrote letters to 
all the provinces of his kingdom and signed them 
with his ring, telling what the fate of Queen 
Vashti was for her disobedienc^^ So Vashti 
came no more to the royal paMce nor ever again 
wore the royal crown upon her head. 



242 



THE STOEY OF QUEEN ESTHER 

Esther II; III; IV 

np HEN a new queen must be chosen for King 
■*- A-has-u-e-rus. So word was sent out to all the 
provinces that all the fair young maidens should 
come to the king's palace, that he might choose 
amongst them for a queen. 

I wonder if you will remember in one of the 
stories I have told you about King Neb-u-chad- 
nez-zar, who carried some people away from 
Judea and made captives of them in Babylon? 
Now in Shushan, the place where King A-has- 
u-e-rus's palace stood, lived a man who was a 
descendant of th^se same Jews and his name was 
Mordecai. With him lived a very fair and beau- 
tiful young maiden who was the daughter of 
Mordecai 's uncle anCi whose father and mother 
vt^ere both dead. Her name was Esther. 



243 



Bible Stories From the Old Testament 

When the king's commandment was heard that 
all the fair and beautiful young girls should 
gather together at the palace, Esther also was 
brought. Each young maiden was sent in to the 
king to see if he passed favor upon her, and when 
Esther's turn came, the king loved her above all 
others and he set the royal crown upon her head 
and made her his queen, and then he made a 
great feast for Esther and invited all the people 
of the palace and gave gifts to them. 

You must remember that Mordecai, the guard- 
ian of Esther, was a Jew, and that the Jews were 
hated by all the people of A-has-u-e-rus 's house- 
hold; therefore Mordecai had told Esther that 
she must not let the King, nor anyone else know 
that she or her people were Jews. 

Now, amongst the king's household, ^as a man 
named Haman who was a great favorite of 
the king, and was set above al] the princes and 
nobles. All the king's servants had to bow 
down and reverence Haman, for this was the 
king's law; but Mordecai, the Jew, would not 
bow down or worship Faman, because he hated 
him. Then, when tb^ king's servants saw that 

244 



The Story of Queen Esther 

Mordecai would not bow down to Haman, they 
questioned him and said, **Why transgressest 
thou the king's commands f And Mordecai told 
them he was a Jew and would not reverence 
Haman. Then Haman determined to kill all the 
Jews that were in all the kingdom of A-has-u-e- 
rus, because he hated Mordecai and wanted to 
kill all his people. So he went to King A-has- 
u-e-rus and told him that there were certain peo- 
ple throughout all his province who did not keep 
his comamnds, and whose laws were diverse from 
the king's laws, and that it was not profitable 
for the king to keep them. He asked the king 
to write a decree that they should be destroyed, 
promising to pay a great sum of money into 
the king's treasuries if the king would do as 
he wished. So the king wrote letters to all the 
provinces and sealed them with his ring, decree- 
ing that all the Jews throughout the kingdom, 
both young and ^Id, little children and women, 
should, in one daj, the thirteenth day of the 
month, be killed. Aid the letters were sent out 
in great haste by post, by runners, camels and 

245 



Bible Stories From the Old Testament 

messengers, even to the palace and the place 
where the palace stood. 

Then Haman and the king sat down to drink, 
but the king did not know that Queen Esther also 
was a Jew. 

When the decree became known there was 
great weeping and wailing and distress through- 
cut all the kingdom, for there were many Jews. 

Mordecai, the Jew, when he heard the decree 
was greatly grieved and he rent his clothes and 
put on sackcloth with ashes and went out into the 
city and cried with a loud and bitter cry. 

The queen's maids came and told Esther that 
Mordecai was out in front of the palace weeping 
and wearing sackcloth, and Esther was sorely 
grieved and sent clothing out to him and toM him 
to take off his sackcloth. But Mord^ai would 
not receive the clothing and kept o^ weeping and 
mourning. 

Then Esther called one of ^^^ king's cham- 
berlains — the one who was appointed to wait on 
her— and told him to go ^nd find out what the 
trouble was with th^ man, Mordecai. The 

246 



The Story of Queen Esther 

servant went, and Mordecai told him what Ha- 
man had done, and gave him a copy of the writ- 
ten decree of the king — saying that on the thir- 
teenth day of the month all the Jews should be 
destroyed — to show to Esther. And he sent a 
message to Esther that she should go to the king 
and tell him she was a Jew and make supplication 
to him through his love for her, for her people. 

The servant went back and told Esther all he 
had learned and gave her Mordecai 's message. 
Then Esther sent him again to Mordecai and told 
him to tell Mordecai that everybody, all the 
king's servants and all the people of his prov- 
inces knew that whoever, whether man or woman, 
went into the king's presence without being 
called by the king, would be put to death, except 
that to such a one who should so venture, the 
king would hold out the golden sceptre and let 
him live. '^But" she said, ^'I have not been 
called into the king's court these thirty days and 
I am afraid to go lest he be angry and kill me." 

And the servant told Mordecai what Esther 
said. 

247 



Bible Stories From the Old Testament 

*'You must tell her,'* said Mordecai, ''that she- 
must not think because she is in the king's house 
she will escape any more than any other of the 
Jews. Tell her that even if it is not found out 
now that she is a Jew, it will be found out later 
and she will be killed. And moreover, tell her 
that it may be God put her in the palace of the 
king at this time for this purpose — to save her 
people." 

So when the servant returned and told Esther 
what Mordecai said she made answer: 

**Go and tell Mordecai to gather together all 
the Jews that are in the city and fast ye for me^ 
and neither eat nor drink for three days — but 
pray. I and my handmaidens also will fast and 
pray, and then I will go into the king's inner 
court, which is agaiQst the law; and if I perish 
I perish." 

And Mordecai went and did as Esther bade 
him. 

On the third day of fasting Queen Esther put 
on her royal robes and her jewels and her crown 
and went into the king's house. 

248 



The Story of Queen Esther 

The king was sitting on his royal throne in the 
palace and when he saw Queen Esther advancing 
toward him so stately and beautiful in her royal 
robes and smiling graciously, he was not angry 
but pleased; he held out the golden sceptre, and 
Queen Esther drew near and touched it. 

The king said: 

*^What wilt thou, Queen Esther! What is thy 
request? It shall be given thee, even to the half 
of my kingdom?'' 

And Queen Esther replied: 

**If it seem good with the king, let the king and 
Human come this day unto the banquet that I 
have prepared for them." 

The king sent word to Haman to make haste 
and obey Queen Esther and both the king and 
Haman went to the banquet which Esther had 
prepared. 

While they were eating and drinking at the 
banquet, King A-has-u-e-rus, said again to Queen 
Esther: ''What is thy petition? Whatever it is 
it shall be granted unto thee, even to the half of 
my kingdom." 

249 



Bible Stories From the Old Testament 

Queen Esther told him that if she had found 
favor in his eyes she would ask him and Haman 
to come again to her house to banquet on the mor- 
row, and the king said they would. 

When Haman went from the banquet at the 
king's house he was very much puffed up with 
pride, but as he went out of the gate he met 
Mordecai, and Mordecai would not bow before 
him, nor move out of his way for him and he was 
very angry. 

So then Haman called his wife and all his 
friends and told them what a very rich and for- 
tunate man he was ; how the king had promoted 
him from one position to another, and how Queen 
Esther had invited no other man to the banquet 
with the king except himself. 

'^But," he said, ^'in spite of all this I can not 
be happy so long as I see that Jew, Mordecai, 
sitting at the king's gate." Then all his friends 
and his wife told him to have a high gallows built 
and to tell the king that he wanted Mordecai 
hanged upon it. And when that was done to go 
merrily in to the queen's banquet. 

250 



The Story of Queen Esther 

This pleased Haman mightily and he set mea 
at work to building the gallows on which Mor- 
decai was to be hung. 



25 



THE MAN WHOM THE KING HONOEED 

Esther VI 

/^[ST the night of the first banquet in Queen 
^-^ Esther's house King A-has-u-e-rus could 
not sleep and he commanded the chamberlain to 
bring in to him the book of chronicles — or rec- 
ord of events — and read to him. In it they read 
how Mordecai had once saved the king from be- 
ing slain by two wicked chamberlains who wanted 
to kill him. The king said, **What honor and 
dignity hath been done to Mordecai for thisT' 

The chamberlain told him that nothing had 
been done for Mordecai. 

Then the king said, **Who is in the outer 
court r' 

It was morning now and Haman had come 
<jarly to the Court to ask the king if he might 
have Mordecai hanged upon the gallows, so the 
men looking out said, ** Haman is in the outer 

252 



The Man Whom the King Honored 

court.'' And the king said, **Let him come in." 

So Haman came in. And the king said to him: 
'*What should be done to a man whom the king 
delighteth to honor?'' 

Now of course Haman immediately thought 
the king meant him so he told the king exactly 
what he would like to have done. 

**Let the royal apparel be brought," he said, 
** which the king useth to wear, and the king's 
own horse, and the royal crown. And let all them 
be given to one of the princes of the realm who 
shall array the man whom the king delighteth to 
honor, and put him on the back of the king's 
horse, and he shall be proclaimed before him, 
'*This is the man whom the king delighteth to 
honor." 

Then the king said to Haman, *'Make haste 
then and take the apparel and the horse, as thou 
hast said, and do even so to Mordecai, who sit- 
teth at the king's gate; let nothing fail of all that 
thou hast spoken, for it is he whom the king de- 
lighteth to honor." 

So Haman had to do as the king bade him, and 

253 



Bible Stories From the Old Testament 

he led Mordecai on horseback in the king's ap- 
parel through the streets of the town^ crying, 
^*This is the man whom the king delighteth to 
honor." Bnt when he had done the king's bid- 
ding he ran to his house mourning, and while he 
was telling his wife and friends about it the 
king's chamberlain came bidding him to make 
haste and come to Queen Esther's second banquet. 



254 



QUEEN ESTHER ^S BANQUET 

Esther XVIII 

Q the king and Haman came again to banquet 
^ with Queen Esther. And as on the first day, 
King A-has-u-e-rus said, **What is thy petition, 
Queen Esther! Whatever it is it sliall be 
granted to thee, even to the half of my kingdom/' 

Then the queen turned her beautiful face upon 
him and clasped her hands and said: 

**If I have found favor in thy sight, King, 
and if it please the king, let my life be spared at 
my petition, and my people at my request ; for we 
are sold. I and my people to be destroyed, to be 
slain and to perish. If we had been sold for bond 
men and bond women, I had held my tongue, al- 
though the enemy could not countervail the 
king's damage.'* 

The king was very angry and said, **Who is he 



Bible Stories From the Old Testament 

and where is he that durst presume to do this f ' ' 

Then Esther pointed to Haman and said, 
**Here he is.'' 

King A-has-u-e-rus was terribly angry to 
think that Haman had so deceived him and he 
went out into the garden to think what he should 
do. While he was there he heard of the gallows 
which Haman had had built for Mordecai to be 
hanged upon, and he said, **Hang Haman thereon 
instead. ' ' 

So they hanged Haman on the gallows he had 
prepared for Mordecai. 

Then Queen Esther told A-has-u-e-rus that 
Mordecai was her uncle. A-has-u-e-rus sent for 
him and he told Mordecai to write letters to all 
the Jews in all the provinces that their lives 
would be spared, and that they might all live to- 
gether happily. And he commanded his scribes 
to write to the Medes and the Persians reversing 
the law regarding the killing of the Jews. And 
he signed the letters with his ring, for when a let- 
ter was signed with the king's ring no man could 
reverse that law. 

2o6 



Queen Esther's Banquet 

Then he clothed Mordecai in royal apparel of 
blue and white, and in garments of purple and 
fine linen, and with a great crown of gold. And 
all that were in the city rejoiced and were glad. 
And the Jews all over the land had joy and glad- 
ness, a feast and great happiness. 



957 



THE ISRAELITES RETURN TO 
PALESTINE 

TT'OU will remember how the wicked king of 
^ Babylon, Nebuchadnezzar, destroyed and 
burned Jerusalem and the beautiful Temple that 
Solomon had taken such delight in building, and 
had carried off all the gold and silver and brass 
treasures and made the Hebrews slaves? Well, 
the Hebrews after this lived seventy years in the 
land of Babylon and then the king decided to 
send them back to Palestine where they came 
from. 

He let them take back their treasures of gold 
and silver and brass and gave them other beau- 
tiful presents to build a new temple with when 
they should get back to Jerusalem, and he chose 
a man amongst them, a prince called Zerubbabel, 
to lead them. And so the Israelites travelled the 
long journey again back to Palestine. 

868 



The Israelites Return to Palestine 

When they came to Jersnsalem they set abont 
rebuilding the walls about the city which the 
army of Nebuchadnezzar had torn down, and they 
intended when this was done to rebuild the tem- 
ple. 

The Israelites whom Nebuchadnezzar had not 
taken captives because they were poor and who 
had been left behind to care for the vineyards, 
came and offered to help in the building of the 
new temple, but the Hebrews who had just re- 
turned from Babylon refused their aid and 
wanted to build it all alone. This made the other 
Israelites angry and they began to fight, so 
the Hebrews had to fight against them while 
they were building the temple. 

Daniel was one of the Hebrews who had re- 
turned from Babylon and he prayed God to for- 
give them their sins and to help them in the build- 
ing of the new temple. An angel came to Daniel 
when he was saying his evening prayers and 
told him that he was greatly beloved and that his 
prayer would be answered and that Jerusalem 
should be rebuilt. 



Bible Stories From the Old Testament 

• After a while more Hebrews were sent back 
from Babylon and then they all helped toward 
building the temple, and when the foundation was 
laid there was great feasting and rejoicing and 
sin^ng by the builders. They played upon 
trumpets and cymbals, and they sang and shouted 
and praised God. But some of the old priests 
and chiefs who had seen the beautiful old temple 
that Solomon had built were very sad as they 
remembered the temple and other days of rejoic- 
ing and all the sorrowful things that had hap- 
pened since, and they wept. So there was both 
rejoicing and weeping while the new temple was 
being built, as, indeed, there always is when any 
great work is being done. 



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